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| Africa North |
| U.S. Still flying Strike Missions in Libya |
| 2011-04-13 |
| US fighter jets are still carrying out bombing raids on Libya's air defences, the Pentagon says, days after indicating American combat aircraft had withdrawn from NATO operations. US warplanes have attacked air defence targets three times since April 4, when NATO assumed command of the air campaign, spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said today. US military officials had previously said about 50 combat jets had been pulled back after the handover to NATO, and that air strikes would be carried out by allies while the United States would provide refuelling and surveillance aircraft. It was unclear why the Pentagon had waited to reveal the role of F-16 fighters helping to enforce the no-fly zone, but details emerged amid divisions within the NATO alliance over the air campaign. Britain and France, which led the calls for international intervention to stop Muammar Gaddafi's attacks on his people, have pressed NATO allies to share more of the burden for the operation and deploy more combat aircraft. Mr Lapan said the combat flights by F-16 Falcons were confined to striking radar and other air defences as part of the UN-mandated no-fly zone in Libya. But US combat aircraft were not part of bombing runs against tanks or other ground targets that fell under a separate UN-approved mission to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces, he said. For that mission, American ground-attack aircraft and other warplanes remain on standby pending a request from NATO. Mr Lapan said earlier that "we have fighter aircraft that NATO has, that they can use as part of the air tasking order for suppression of air defence missions, and they have conducted some of those missions". The United States had assigned 11 aircraft, including six F-16 fighters and five EA-18 Growlers for electronic jamming, based in Aviano, Italy to target air defences as part of the no-fly zone mission, he said. The three strikes by US aircraft were carried out on April 4, 6 and 7, with American pilots flying 97 sorties to suppress the regime's radar and anti-aircraft weaponry since NATO took command, he said. President Barack Obama's administration, which has nearly 100,000 troops fighting a grinding war in Afghanistan while it tries to wind down the US mission in Iraq, has been eager for Western allies to bear the brunt of the Libya operation. The Pentagon insisted that the United States was playing a secondary role despite the revelation that American aircraft were still bombing Libyan targets. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 US DESIRED? "REGIONALISM"? versus * FOX NEWS' CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER [Sunday Roundtable] = opined that IHO one of the expectations that comes wid a major Nation-State like the USA being the ONE-N-ONLY SOLE GLOBAL SUPERPOWER IS THAT THE REST OF WORLD EXPECTS THE US TO ASSERT LEADERSHIP + "TAKE CHARGE" IN ANY + ALL SITUATIONS EVEN IFF THE US PER SE DOESN'T WANT TO IRREGARDLESS OF THE MERITS. In Chuck's opinion, POTUS BAMMER + ADMIN is clearly failing to do the above as per Gaddafi + the Libyuh Crisis??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-04-13 22:29 |
| #3 Sorry for the double post. I'm not that enthusiastic. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-04-13 21:10 |
| #2 Kucinich for President |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-04-13 21:09 |
| #1 Kucinich for President |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-04-13 21:09 |