Libyan operation could last months: US officials

Washington: US-led military action in Libya has bolstered rebels fighting Moammar Gaddafi's forces, but the international operation could continue for months, the Obama administration says.

Ahead of President Barack Obama's national address Monday to explain his decision to act against the Libyan leader, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in appearances on the Sunday talk shows that the intervention had effectively rendered Gaddafi's forces defenseless against air attacks and created the conditions for opposition advances westward.

In interviews taped Saturday, Gates and Clinton also defended the narrowly defined UN mandate to prevent atrocities against Libyan civilians and said the US had largely accomplished its goals.

"We have taken out his armor," Gates said, adding that the USsoon would relinquish its leading role in enforcing a no-fly zone and striking pro-Gaddafi ground targets intent on violence.

Clinton said "we're beginning to see, because of the good work of the coalition, his troops begin to turn back toward the west — and to see the opposition begin to reclaim the ground they had lost."

Libyan rebels reclaimed an important oil town and kept pushed westward Sunday toward the capital, Tripoli. Brega, a main oil export terminal in eastern Libya, fell after a skirmish late Saturday. Rebel forces also seized the tiny desert town of Al-Egila on their way to the massive oil refining complex of Ras Lanouf.

US-led airstrikes allowed anti-government forces to recapture the key eastern city of Ajdabiya.

NATO's top decision-making body was to meet Sunday to expand its enforcement of the no-fly zone to include air strikes against Libyan ground targets.

The military progress follows deep criticism against Obama from lawmakers upset that the administration hadn't sought greater congressional input on Libya.

Gates said the no-fly zone was fully in place and could be sustained with "a lot less effort than it took to set it up." He said the Pentagon was planning how to draw down resources that will be assigned to European and other countries pledging to take on a larger role.


But asked on ABC's "This Week" if that would mean a US military commitment until year's end, Gates said, "I don't think anybody knows the answer to that."

The lack of clarity on that question reflects a worry for lawmakers clamoring to hear fuller explanations from the administration on why the US was embroiling itself in another Muslim conflict and what the ultimate goals of the intervention are.

Clinton and Gates insisted that the objective was limited to protecting civilians, even as they hoped the pressure of concerted international penalties and isolation might strip away Gaddafi's remaining loyalists and cause his government to crumble.

"One should not underestimate the possibility of the regime itself cracking," Gates said on NBC's "Meet The Press."

He said Gaddafi shouldn't feel too comfortable after 42 years of dictatorship: "I wouldn't be hanging any new pictures if I were him."

Clinton added that Gaddafi's military and political advisers were increasingly seeking talks as they feel the international pressure.

Libyan operation could last months: US officials