"Gates presses US allies to take on bigger role against Libya; None challenged vow to do more" by Bradley Klapper and Robert Burns, Associated Press / June 9, 2011
BRUSSELS — The Obama administration challenged five key military allies yesterday to take on a greater share of the NATO-led air campaign against Moammar Khadafy’s forces, illustrating the strains of a three-month intervention in Libya that has no time frame for an exit....
None of the challenged nations pledged to do more.
The pressure on Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and Netherlands comes as the alliance continues with intensified airstrikes on Libya’s capital and only a day after President Obama played down any suggestions of a rift with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her nation’s lack of contribution to the war effort....
And then all these bad things start happening to Germany?
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Spain, Turkey, and the Netherlands should enhance their limited participation in noncombat operations by joining in strike missions against ground targets, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal NATO deliberations. They said Gates pressed Germany and Poland, the two countries not participating at all militarily, to help in some form.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton probably will restate Gates’s argument today when NATO nations and Arab governments participating in the air campaign meet in the United Arab Emirates.
“At each meeting, the international pressure is growing and momentum is building for change in Libya,’’ said Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman.
That would be REGIME CHANGE!
Nuland and other officials accompanying Clinton to Abu Dhabi said the time had come to look at the next phase of the Libya situation — what replaces the despotic Khadafy regime.
That means the United States and its partners will start looking at what fate — exile, prosecution, or some third option — should befall the leader and his family. They also must consider the parameters for a future cease-fire between rebels and remaining Khadafy loyalists, and how to ensure a viable democratic process, according to US officials who said these issues would be the focus of talks in Abu Dhabi.
None of that was brought up when we were sold intervention.
Gates said the additional military support was not needed to continue air operations for another 90 days, which has been welcomed by all 28 NATO countries. But he said it was a necessary element of fairness in an alliance built on the principle of shared burdens.
Eight NATO members are participating in air strikes in Libya: the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Italy. Denmark and Norway, in particular, are contributing disproportionately, given the size of their militaries, US officials said, and both feel the stress on their aircraft, crews, and finances.
These stresses, combined with the refusal of some alliance members to participate at all in offensive operations, are one reason US officials believe NATO is excessively dependent on the United States for its advanced military power....
The United States and its allies say the upturn in NATO airstrikes is increasingly pinning Khadafy into a corner, even as troops loyal to the erratic leader of 42 years lashed back with renewed shelling of the western city of Misrata yesterday, killing 10 rebel fighters. Yet NATO’s strikes yesterday — at least four strikes during the day after five before dawn — reinforced the limits to its intervention.
But he will be gone any day now.
Despite overwhelming aerial power, it has been difficult for the international coalition to end the threat from Khadafy without overstepping its mission. NATO says it is scrupulously following the UN resolution calling for the protection of civilians, and not for the ouster of Khadafy, who is vowing to fight to the death.
Lie!
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Maybe this will make him happy:
"$1b pledged to aid Libya rebels; Some officials say end of Khadafy regime is near" June 10, 2011|By Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The nations intervening in Libya pledged as much as $1 billion in support for the opposition there yesterday as senior officials continued to predict the collapse of Moammar Khadafy’s government could be imminent.
As the NATO military alliance intensified attacks in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, including a new round of daytime raids, senior officials acknowledged reports that Khadafy’s son, Saif, could be seeking a negotiated exit.
Australia’s foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, said the consensus was that “Khadafy’s days are well and truly numbered,’’ giving urgency to the efforts to prepare the opposition for taking power and overseeing a transition.
“This is no longer an academic proposition,’’ he said. “It is a real proposition, and one we may be facing sooner than many of you in this room may think.’’
Such predictions, echoed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, have proved premature more than once before....
In Geneva, a senior Libyan diplomat vehemently denied Libyan forces had committed atrocities, including a systematic campaign of rapes by soldiers, possibly including the distribution of Viagra, as prosecutors for the International Criminal Court suggested Wednesday.
Amnesty International said yesterday that its researchers “have not to date turned up significant hard evidence to support this allegation.’’
Yeah, that piece of propaganda never hardened up.
Libyan officials have also denied talk of any deal involving Khadafy’s leaving the country. Even so, officials meeting here took steps to prepare for what Clinton called “the inevitable: a post-Khadafy Libya.’’
The officials established a financial mechanism — agreed on when they met last in Rome a month ago — that would allow direct assistance to the Libyan opposition, despite United Nations sanctions that remain in place on the country....
Italy, France, Turkey, Australia, and other countries pledged additional money yesterday totaling more than $1 billion, much of it backed by frozen Libyan government assets. But the money still faces legal hurdles before it can reach the rebels....
The opposition in the eastern half of the country, known as the Transitional National Council, has pleaded for as much as $3 billion to pay for emergency needs and basic services in the parts of Libya it controls. Its leaders expressed frustration over what they view as the plodding pace of diplomacy.
Related:
"rebels control roughly the eastern third of the country"
Whatever, MSM.
In Washington, President Obama’s nominee to replace Robert M. Gates as defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta, told the Senate of signs Khadafy’s government might “be starting to crack.’’ But, he added, “the odds of a stalemate remain far too high.’’
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Maybe not:
"Gates slams NATO allies over share of combat burden; Says US won’t accept uneven load in future" June 11, 2011|By Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post
BERLIN — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates rebuked some of America’s staunchest allies yesterday, saying that the United States has a “dwindling appetite’’ to serve as the heavyweight partner in the military order that has underpinned the US relationship with Europe since the end of World War II.
I think he's full of s***; however, what if they just said f*** you and pulled out?
In an unusually stinging speech, made on his final visit to Europe before he retires at the end of the month, Gates condemned European defense cuts and said the United States is tired of engaging in combat missions for those who “don’t want to share the risks and the costs.’’
Then STOP INVADING PEOPLE!!
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The speech comes as the United States prepares to begin withdrawing some of its forces from Afghanistan this summer and as it and other NATO powers engage in an air campaign against the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy. In both cases, Gates said, budget cuts and sheer reluctance among European partners to fight have made the missions significantly more difficult and shifted the burden onto the United States.
Well, as I recall we were one of the nations pushing for this!
The challenges facing the Libyan campaign were underscored just hours after Gates spoke, as Norway announced it would pull its forces out of operations by the beginning of August because of the burdens on its small military.
Norway’s F-16 jets have carried out about 10 percent of the airstrikes on Libyan soil since the NATO operations began at the end of March, according to Norway’s air force.
This week, NATO carried out the most intensive bombardment of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to date. But the airstrikes are depleting NATO munitions, forcing the United States to supply more, Gates said.
I'm $ure that makes the war companie$ happy.
US officials have been unhappy with Germany in the months since it refused to support a UN Security Council resolution to intervene in Libya, but President Obama feted German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday at the White House, presenting her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom....
And then all these bad things start happening to Germany!!
Gates' harsh language in the speech to the Security and Defense Agenda think tank yesterday — delivered after a NATO defense ministers’ summit in which NATO and American top brass tried but largely failed to secure additional resources for the Libyan campaign — was a sign of just how tenuous the military relationships have become....
Maybe the allies are getting SICK of AmeriKan arrogance!
Gates said he has “worried openly’’ in the past “about NATO turning into a two-tiered alliance between members who specialize in ‘soft’ humanitarian, development, peacekeeping, and talking tasks and those conducting the ‘hard’ combat missions — between those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership … but don’t want to share the risks and the costs.’’
“This is no longer a hypothetical worry,’’ Gates said. “We are there today. And it is unacceptable.’’
Gates expressed alarm about “the real possibility for a dim, if not dismal, future for the transatlantic alliance.’’ He added: “Such a future is possible, but not inevitable. The good news is that the members of NATO — individually and collectively — have it well within their means to halt and reverse these trends and instead produce a very different future.’’
Gates said that the best hope for NATO was for European leaders to push harder to protect their budgets from further cuts, and he urged them to work together to coordinate their military capabilities.
As social services are shredded.
“It is not too late for Europe to get its defense institutions and security relationships on track,’’ Gates said.
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