US launches military action against Libya

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller, Ap White House Correspondent – 26 mins ago

BRASILIA, Brazil – President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.

Obama said military action was not his first choice.

"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."

A senior military official said the U.S. launched air defenses Saturday with strikes along the Libyan coast that were launched by Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official said the assault would unfold in stages and target air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital, and a coastal area south of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

Obama declared once again that the United States would not send ground forces to Libya, though he said he is "deeply aware" of the risks of taking any military action.

Earlier in the day, Obama warned that the international community was prepared to act with urgency.

"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency," Obama said.

Top officials from the U.S., Europe and the Arab world meeting in Paris, where they announced Saturday immediate military action to protect civilians caught in combat between Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters. American ships and aircraft were poised for action but weren't participating in the initial French air missions.

As the military action was announced, French fighter jets swooped over Benghazi, the opposition stronghold that was stormed by Libyan government forces earlier Saturday, in defiance of a proclaimed ceasefire.

France, Britain and the United States had warned Gadhafi Friday that they would resort to military means if he ignored the U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire.

The United States has a host of forces and ships in the area, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships.

The U.S. intended to limit its involvement — at least in the initial stages — to helping protect French and other air missions by taking out Libyan air defenses, but depending on the response could launch additional attacks in support of allied forces, a U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.

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"The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets."

But was France really involved? I'd hate to think that the US fired the first missiles.
I'm behind a joint effort to protect the civilians of Libya but don't want to see the US in the lead, again.

No, France fired first from what I understand.

This Khadafi is crazy. I cannot help but feel some semblance of fear.

We certainly are stretching ourselves very thin and with all of our own problems that seem to be esculating on the home front.

Drugs, border issues, unemployment, homeless, welfare. To name a few.

We shall soon be a nation of three classes. Poor, military and Rich. Pick one.

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Rick Leventhal Live From Libya

Mar 19, 2011 - 5:42 -

Plane shot down in Benghazi

Rick Leventhal said in this video that they do not know who the jet belonged to that was shot down.

Sorry, I do not know how to embed videos.

United States and European military forces have bombarded Libya with cruise missiles and airstrikes as part of a broad international effort to enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone.

French planes fired the first shots on Saturday in the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armored vehicles in eastern Libya.

Hours later, US and British warships and submarines launched more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at more than 20 coastal targets to clear the way for air patrols to ground Libya''s air force.

An unnamed US national security official said the air defences in the oil-producing North African country have been "severely crippled" by the barrage of missile strikes.

"Gaddafi''s air defence systems have been severely disabled. It''s too soon to predict what he and his ground forces may do in response to today''s strikes," the military source said on condition of anonymity.

British military spokesman Major General John Lorimer said British fighter jets also had been used to bombard the North African Nation.

Anti-aircraft guns could be heard firing overnight in Tripoli. Libyan state television later said civilian areas of Tripoli and fuel storage tanks that supplied Misurata had been hit.

It also claimed that 48 people had been killed and 150 others wounded in the attacks, but the report could not be independently verified.

In Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near eastern Tajoura district, while in Misurata they said strikes had targeted an airbase where Gaddafi''s forces were based.

Several thousands gathered at the Bab al-Aziziyah palace, Gaddafi''s compound in the capital that was bombed by US warplanes in 1986, to show their support.

Defiant Gaddafi.

In response, Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, vowed to arm civilians to defend the country from what he called "colonial, crusader" aggression by western forces against him.
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