Obama: ‘Absolutely’ No US Boots on the Ground in Libya

Senior US officials have spent the last week dodging questions about whether the United States will participate in some type of military action in Libya beyond the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone, if Muammar Qaddafi’s regime continues violence against Libyan citizens. On Wednesday, President Obama spoke up. The President told the Spanish-language network Univision that a land invasion was “absolutely” out of the question, reported Associated Press. He also echoed senior military leaders’ recent comments that a transition is coming, as soon the United States will no longer have the lead in Operation Odyssey Dawn. His comments came the same day on which F-15s struck more missile sites around Tripoli, the Libyan capital. Obama also attempted to answer another lingering question: What exactly does the US have to gain from its involvement in Libya? “The American people and the United States have an interest” in stopping a “brutal dictator” from threatening and attacking “his people,” Obama said. (White House blog entry)