Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in Libya came under a fierce attack from a U.S.-led coalition of warplanes, ships and submarines on Saturday.
President Obama authorized limited military action against Libya.
“We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy,” Obama said Saturday from Brazil.
U.S. and British ships and submarines fired more than 110 cruise missiles at more than 20 Libyan air defense targets, Vice Adm. William Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, told reporters on Saturday. Most of those areas are in and around the capital Tripoli.
The first Tomahawk cruise missiles struck at 3 p.m. ET, Gortney said, after a one-hour flight from U.S. and British vessels in the Mediterranean.
No U.S. aircraft fired missiles or dropped bombs, Gortney said.
The strike’s intent, Gortney said, was to stop further attacks on civilians by forces loyal to Gadhafi and to allow for allied warplanes to safely enforce a no-fly zone in Libya.
Libyan air defenses are similar to those U.S. and coalition forces faced in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, he said. They consist of older, Soviet-era technology, which still has “good capability.”
“Odyssey Dawn,” as the operation has been dubbed, is being led by U.S. commanders during the initial phases, Gortney said.
U.S. ships and warplanes will take the lead in the first round of attacks because of their “unique capabilities,” said a senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss ongoing military operations.
The strikes are designed to prevent Gadhafi from attacking civilians, particularly those around the besieged city of Benghazi. Attacking missile defenses will allow a coalition of allied warplanes to enforce a no-fly zone. Flights will be denied in northern Libya from west of Tripoli to east of Benghazi and south to the city of Sabha.
At least 11 U.S. Navy ships and submarines are patrolling the Mediterranean off Libya and are prepared to take part in the attack. The first strikes hit targets that included defenses near Tripoli and Misratah, according to a briefing slides shown to reporters at the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates delayed a trip to Russia on Saturday to remain in Washington and monitor the first phase of the attacks. The military official could not say how long the attacks would last.
“The U.S. will be at the front end of this,” he said.
The American military’s unique capabilities include the ability to launch cruise missiles, logistics, electronic attacks designed to thwart radar and air defense and the ability to synchronize and command attacks, he said.
Four other countries announced that they would take part in enforcing the no-fly zone. They are Great Britain, France, Canada and Italy, the official said. Other countries are expected to announce their participation in coming days, he said.
(Source: USA Today)
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15 Responses
The above is terribly inaccurate. This is a FRENCH led coalition. They brought together a 22 nation coalition and minutes later their airforce carried out the first wave of attacks – alone. The Americans are taking a back seat while France is leading the attack. Get your facts straight. Read any news site on the planet and you’ll see how erroneous this posting is.
I am skeptical of this war. We are still fighting two wars, and are basically broke. Also who says that whoever is the next leader of Libya will be better than Qaddafi. Also what is the endgame. This looks like an open-ended war….
By some accounts, Obama is getting cleverer. He lets the British and French take the lead in getting a UN resolution, but when theshooting starts it seems to initially involve a half dozen American ships and one British submarine, though allegedly the rest of NATO is right behind us. Obama will claim credit for showing the “right” way to invade a country – put other country’s leaders in front, and hope no one notices its mainly Americans doing the fighting.
Now if he only stopped being so clueless about economics.
So glad our “president” is taking a FIVE day vacation in Rio with our $$$$$, well all this is happening.What a joke!!!
#1 um America fired over $100 missiles today ($100m cost) the French launched 20 air strikes. I would say it is pretty accurate to say America is leading this.
2. As a lib, you would be skeptical of ANY war. I am still undecided on this but one thing I do know and that is that Qaddafi isn’t going to end up in gan eden. There are evil people in the world and HE is one of them.
#1, I don’t know what your talking about. I copied and will now paste from CNN; “More than 110 Tomahawk missiles fired from American and British ships and submarines hit about 20 Libyan air and missile defense targets in western portions of the country, U.S. Vice Adm. William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing”.
“Shortly after the first missile attacks, U.S. President Barack Obama informed the American people of the efforts by a “broad coalition.”
Ah Freilichin Purim Qaddafi,
Are we out of our minds? We have declared war on a country….what are we thinking If I were Quadaffi, glad im not, I would put a dirty nuke in a diplomatic pouch and bring it to 1600 Penna Ave…guess what Its war buddy….we are just nuts when it comes to the ME…conservatives and liberals just nuts. Looks like we may learn our lessons on the ME the hard way…hope not but the future would not surprise me.
Why attack Libya. It is an internal thing and the outside countries should stay out. Hamas is attacking Israel and the rotten obama says nothing. Hamas is attacking innocent civilian and obama says nothing.
Not justified???? And if the US got involved with the Holocost sooner, you would say the same?
The samething is going on there right now.
C’mon you libtards, let’s hear you criticize Oybama like you did GWB!!!!!
#10 Your an idiot. Hitler killed more ppl in a day (completely unarmed) than Qaddafi has killed in a month (despite many of them being well armed). Disgusting comment that the moderator should not allow.
Mark Levin I am far from a liberal, and you did not address any of my questions, you resort to name calling, which is typical of people who do not know how to debate. I am not a perma-war monger like some ppl on the right. Why don’t you take an m-16 and go fight in Afghanistan, hoping your legs wont get blown off by an IUD? I am liberal because I do not want Al-Qaida to take over the country, and because we are broke and are starting a war that will cost probably billions of dollars, while we are broke? That sounds like a liberal point of view, so maybe you are the liberal 😉
Yswo, numbers matter? One life or 100 lives, what is the difference? You kill an unarmed man, it is wrong. Qaddafi is having his people go into hospitals and kill wounded people who possibly were part of protests. I can’t see any difference besides that Qaddafi is killing arabs and Hitler was killing Jews. You can’t take sides and say one we should stop and one we shoudn’t. This is how you breed Anti Semites. Don’t be all twisted and just stick to what is right.
Every country in the world has killed at least one civilian on purpose. So according to your twisted logic, every country is as bad as the Nazis. You disgrace the holocaust with your ridiculous comparison. You are the one who helps anti-semites to trivialize the holocaust.