WASHINGTON/GENEVA – The US military is moving naval and air forces into position around Libya, the Pentagon said on Monday, as Western countries weigh possible intervention against Moamer Gaddafi’s regime. “We have planners working various contingency plans, and I think it’s safe to say as part of that we’re repositioning forces to provide for that flexibility once decisions are made,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters.
The redeployment of “naval and air forces” would give US President Barack Obama a range of options in the crisis, said Lapan, without specifying what ships and aircraft had been given orders or what potential action was under consideration. As Gaddafi’s troops assaulted opposition forces, US and European leaders were weighing the use of NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to stop Gaddafi from using airstrikes against his own people.
Apart from a possible no-fly zone, Western nations were also looking at setting up a humanitarian “corridor” in neighboring Tunisia or Egypt to help refugees, the New York Times reported on Sunday. The Obama administration was also discussing whether the American military could disrupt communications to prevent Colonel Gaddafi from broadcasting in Libya, the Times wrote. US and NATO bases in Italy could serve as potential staging areas for any action against Libya, including the United States Sixth Fleet base near Naples.
The American military was preparing for a range of possible options but no final decision had been taken, a defense official said. “We’re very much in an exploratory phase right now,” a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. US banks froze a record $30 billion of Libyan assets over the weekend in response to an Obama administration order aimed at pressuring Gaddafi’s regime.
In a telephone briefing, a senior Treasury Department official said the amount was the largest total blocked by any single order ever issued by the US government. Talking to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Gaddafi of using “mercenaries and thugs” to suppress a popular uprising as world leaders sought new ways to isolate and oust him.
“We have seen Colonel Gaddafi’s security forces open fire on peaceful protesters. They have used heavy weapons on unarmed civilians. Mercenaries and thugs have been turned loose to attack demonstrators,” Clinton said. “Through their actions, they have lost the legitimacy to govern. And the people of Libya have made themselves clear: It is time for Gaddafi to go – now, without further violence or delay,” she said. She said the US was prepared to offer “any kind of assistance” to Libyans seeking to overthrow Gaddai’s regime.
Meanwhile, in an interview with US television network ABC on Monday Gaddafi accused Western countries of abandoning his government in its fight against terrorists. “I’m surprised that we have an alliance with the West to fight Al Qaeda, and now that we are fighting terrorists they have abandoned us,” Gaddafi, told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Perhaps they want to occupy Libya.” Gaddafi called Obama a “good man” but said he appeared to be misinformed about the situation in Libya, ABC News reported on its website. “The statements I have heard from him must have come from someone else,” Gaddafi said. “America is not the international police of the world,” he added.
