Libya Mission Uncertain, Clouded by Confusion

United States President Barack Obama said he was setting clear and unmistakable terms for the U.S. role in Libya: It would be limited, lasting days, not weeks, and its purpose was to protect Libyan citizens. However, analysing the current situation, news agency Associated Press says that's not the way it's turning out. Less than a week later, the mission has been clouded by confusion and questions about who's in charge and who's doing what - all while the killing of civilians is going on, it said. AP goes on to say that the Pentagon claims success in establishing an effective no-fly zone over much of Libya that has grounded Col. Muammar Al Qathafi's ageing air force. But the Libyan leader's tanks and troops are still targeting civilians on the ground. Yet the administration seeks to minimise current disputes over the reins of leadership, suggesting everything will fall in place quickly, ideally by this weekend. It quotes Aaron David Miller, a former top State Department Mideast negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations and now with the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a foreign-policy think tank saying that, “ it could still all come around very quickly in our favour. But if that's to happen, we will have to apply much more intensive military power in an effort to make this succeed." He goes on to say: "But it doesn't appear to me, given the constraints acting upon us and our own reservations, that we're prepared to do that. Right now, it appears to be settling into a stalemate which isn't terribly hurting on the Al Qathafi side." Meanwhile, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he couldn't predict when the international military enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya might end - but suggested the U.S. could turn over control of the operation as soon as Saturday. Gates said no one thought the assault would last only two or three weeks, but he could not say how the coalition operation might be resolved. For now, at least, the U.S. remains the ad hoc boss of the operation, now in its fifth day, with no certainty about who will take over or when. Talks are continuing in Brussels, headquarters of the North American Treaty Organisation, AP reports. The U.S. wants NATO to take the command and control lead in overseeing coalition forces. U.S., European, Arab and African officials have been invited to a meeting in London next Tuesday to discuss outstanding political and logistical issues. On his part, Richard Downie, an Africa expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States' lead role in the operation was lasting longer than he'd expected. Obama has ruled out U.S. troops on the ground, and did so again Wednesday in an interview with the Spanish-language network Univision. Wrapping up a Latin American trip, Obama said a land invasion of Libya was "absolutely" out of the question.