Obama’s shift toward military action in Libya
By Scott Wilson and Joby Warrick
WashPost
Saturday, March 19
After two weeks of playing down the prospect of military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration is on the brink of inserting itself into a third war in a Muslim nation — something the president, who has spent the first half of his term mending America’s relationship with Islam, had hoped to avoid.
The administration’s shift from skepticism to support for military intervention in Libya occurred over a frenetic week of war and diplomacy in Washington and Paris, at the United Nations and inside Libya, where facts on the ground changed swiftly.
Libya’s rebel forces dissolved far more quickly than administration officials had anticipated, despite warnings of their weakness from the director of national intelligence. In addition, the Arab League’s call for a U.N.-led military operation in Libya gave momentum to the administration’s search for international support, particularly by convincing some nations facing strong internal dissent of their own to act.
Inside an administration criticized for its cautious approach to the change sweeping the greater Middle East, the turning point came Tuesday evening when Obama, after returning from a dinner honoring combat commanders, reconvened his senior national security staff in the Situation Room.
(More here.)
WashPost
Saturday, March 19
After two weeks of playing down the prospect of military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration is on the brink of inserting itself into a third war in a Muslim nation — something the president, who has spent the first half of his term mending America’s relationship with Islam, had hoped to avoid.
The administration’s shift from skepticism to support for military intervention in Libya occurred over a frenetic week of war and diplomacy in Washington and Paris, at the United Nations and inside Libya, where facts on the ground changed swiftly.
Libya’s rebel forces dissolved far more quickly than administration officials had anticipated, despite warnings of their weakness from the director of national intelligence. In addition, the Arab League’s call for a U.N.-led military operation in Libya gave momentum to the administration’s search for international support, particularly by convincing some nations facing strong internal dissent of their own to act.
Inside an administration criticized for its cautious approach to the change sweeping the greater Middle East, the turning point came Tuesday evening when Obama, after returning from a dinner honoring combat commanders, reconvened his senior national security staff in the Situation Room.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home