WASHINGTON — In a sign of U.S. confidence that the week-long assault on Libya has tamed Moammar Khadafy’s air defenses, the Pentagon has reduced the amount of naval firepower arrayed against him, officials said Sunday.
The move, not yet publicly announced, reinforces the White House message of a diminishing U.S. role — a central point in President Barack Obama’s national address tonight on Libya.
The White House booked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on three Sunday news shows to promote the administration’s case ahead of the speech.
Yet Gates, asked whether the military operation might be over by year’s end, said, “I don’t think anybody knows the answer to that.”
At least one of the five Navy ships and submarines that have launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets from positions in the Mediterranean Sea has left the area, three defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive movements.
That still leaves what officials think is sufficient naval firepower off Libya’s coast, and it coincides with NATO’s decision Sunday to take over command and control of the entire Libya operation.
America begins handover
The shrinking of the naval presence adds substance to Obama’s expected reassurance to the American people tonight that after kicking off the Libyan mission, the U.S. is now handing off to partner countries in Europe and elsewhere the bulk of the responsibility for suppressing Khadafy’s forces.
NATO’s governing body, meeting in Brussels, accepted a plan for transfer of command, which is expected to mean that U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who has been the top commander of the Libya operation, will switch to a support role.
Obama administration officials claimed progress in Libya, but lawmakers in both parties voiced skepticism over the length, scope and costs of the mission.
Obama is expected to address those issues in a speech tonight that is expected to provide his fullest explanation of the U.S. role in Libya and what lies ahead.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., questioned whether it made sense to be involved at all.
“I don’t believe we should be engaged in Libyan civil war,” Lugar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I believe the Libyans are going to have to work that out.”
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, was broadly supportive of the president’s steps so far.
“It is a flyover which is succeeding. It has set Khadafy back. He’s on his heels now,” Levin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
U.S. airstrikes down slightly
The Pentagon said Sunday that over the previous 24 hours, U.S. aircraft had flown 88 combat strikes against Libyan targets, down from 96 a day earlier. It provided no details on targets.
Gates said the no-fly zone and efforts to protect civilians from attack by pro-Khadafy forces will have to be sustained “for some period of time.”
Among hard questions for Obama is whether the Libyan intervention should serve as a model for U.S. policy toward other Arab countries where revolts against authoritarian governments are gaining ground, including Syria and Yemen, and where civilians are at risk of violent reprisals.
Syrian President Bashar Assad, for instance, is a “different leader” and many members of Congress who have visited the country “believe he’s a reformer,” Clinton said.
