* U.S. "tees up" options ahead of NATO meeting on Thursday
* U.S. does not want to take lead on no-fly zone
*
White House compares
Libya action to Balkan wars
* Clinton, Mullen, Panetta attend
White House meeting (Adds
General Odierno comments, paragraphs 10-12)
By
Ross Colvin and
Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The
White House on Wednesday strongly defended its response to the turmoil in
Libya, insisting it has taken "dramatic action" and rebutting criticism that its consensus-based approach is too cautious.
As
President Barack Obama's top advisers met to debate what to do next, Muammar Gaddafi's forces halted a rebel advance in the east of the
oil-producing North African country and opposition forces suffered setbacks in the west.
A range of options were on the table in the
White House situation room, including a "no-fly" zone to ground Gaddafi's warplanes, although U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates has already warned of the difficulties of such an action.
With Libyan rebels fragmented and disorganized and Gaddafi's forces successfully counter-attacking, the Obama administration has been struggling to craft a strategy that forces Gaddafi from power without entangling the
United States in a new war in the Muslim world.
Despite its fear that
Libya could become what
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton last week called a "giant
Somalia," Washington is reluctant to intervene militarily in a messy civil war, especially since the
United Nations, NATO and countries in the region are divided on what should be done.
White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed suggestions that Washington had failed to act with sufficient urgency.
"There has never been a situation where the international community, with leadership by the
United States, has acted as quickly as it has to respond to this kind of situation," he said.
Clinton, CIA
Director Leon Panetta, and the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral Mike Mullen, attended Wednesday's meeting, but it was not expected to lead to any immediate change in U.S. strategy, Carney said.
The
White House session came ahead of Thursday's meeting of NATO defense ministers, including Gates, in
Brussels. A U.S. official said
Libya options were being "teed up" for discussion there.
A top U.S.
general said the
United States military was prepared to quickly establish a "no-fly" zone over
Libya if the international community decided on that option.
"I believe within a couple days, we would probably be able to implement a no-fly zone,"
General Raymond Odierno,
commander of the
U.S. Joint Forces Command told an audience at Harvard University in
Massachusetts.
Odierno said it was important that any response to the turmoil in
Libya have international backing.
LIBYA VERSUS BALKANS
The
United States, embroiled in wars in
Afghanistan and
Iraq, has been stressing the need for international support for any intervention in
Libya. On Tuesday, Clinton said Washington would not act without a U.N.
Security Council resolution.
At the
Security Council, where Britain and
France are pushing for a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone, diplomats said the Americans had made clear they were not ready to press ahead with the measure.
While the idea of a no-fly zone over
Libya is popular among some politicians in Washington,
Obama administration officials have voiced reservations about its effectiveness in stopping attack helicopters and ground troops.
The
White House has come under fire from some Republican and Democratic politicians, conservative commentators and others for what they say is its failure to match tough talk with action to help rebels force Gaddafi from power.
"The
Obama administration is throwing out so many conflicting messages on
Libya that they are blunting any potential pressure on the Libyan regime and weakening American credibility," said an editorial in The
New York Times, a newspaper that is often supportive of Obama's policies.
The administration has frozen $30 billion in Libyan assets, backed U.N. sanctions, sent military transport aircraft to help evacuate refugees from neighboring
Tunisia and put warships off the
Libyan coast for possible humanitarian efforts.
"It is very important for people to understand the kind of dramatic action that has been taken with the leadership of this
president and will continue to be taken as we move forward," Carney said.
He compared the international response to
Libya with the reaction to the Balkan wars of the 1990s. It took three months to impose an arms embargo on
Yugoslavia after
Croatia declared independence, he said. In the case of
Libya, just nine days.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers like Republican Senator John McCain continued to call for U.S. military intervention. But others warned against it, especially unilateral action
"I am of the opinion that it is not a good idea to give weapons and military support to people who you do not know," said Senator
Jim Webb, a Democrat and former
secretary of the U.S. Navy. (Additional reporting by
Louis Charbonneau in
New York and
Phil Stewart,
Jeff Mason,
Susan Cornwell and
Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by
John O'Callaghan and
Todd Eastham)
