WASHINGTON — President Obama finally made his full case for the US-led military campaign in Libya last night, declaring the state of that beleaguered country to be vital to America’s national interest — and vowing that the international effort would hasten the departure of reviled dictator Moammar Khadafy.
“We will deny the regime arms, cut off its supply of cash, assist the opposition, and work with other nations to hasten the day when Khadafy leaves power,” Obama said. “It may not happen overnight, as a badly weakened Khadafy tries desperately to hang on to power. But it should be clear to those around Khadafy, and to every Libyan, that history is not on his side.”
Still, Obama insisted that regime change is not the goal of the operation, emphasizing that the real work of deposing Khadafy would fall to Libyans themselves.
Obama sought to downplay critics who accused him of moving forward without the consent of Congress. To have waited could have cost countless lives, he said.
“We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi — a city nearly the size of Charlotte — could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world,” Obama said, explaining why he decided to launch military action this month. “It was not in our national interest to let that happen. I refused to let that happen.
“When our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.”
Obama made his case in a 27-minute speech at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, nine days after the US-led assault began March 19.
Obama said last night that the US engagement in Libya would be limited — although he didn’t spell out the criteria for deciding when or how it would end. He announced that NATO will take control tomorrow.
He also didn’t provide any sort of tally for what the operation might cost, saying only that the costs to the US “will be reduced significantly” because of the coalition.
In some of his most dramatic rhetoric to date, Obama called Khadafy a “tyrant,” adding, “He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world — including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.”
Though he stopped short of declaring any kind of victory — noting that Khadafy could still find a way to stay in power — he spoke repeatedly of the success of US efforts.
“So for those who doubted our capacity to carry out this operation, I want to be clear: The United States of America has done what we said we would do,” he said.
Obama said the world would be “better off” with Khadafy out of power, but specifically repudiated “regime change” and invoked the Iraq war.
“If we tried to overthrow Khadafy by force, our coalition would splinter. We would likely have to put US troops on the ground, or risk killing many civilians from the air . . . To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq,” he said.
Immediately after the speech, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Khadafy must have been comforted by that remark.
Still, the Republican leader added, “I appreciate that [Obama] explained why this intervention was both right and necessary in light of the unprecedented democratic awakening now sweeping the broader Middle East.
“As long as [Khadafy] remains in power, he will increasingly pose a threat to the world, and civilians in Libya will not be fully secure.”
But Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), sniped, “Nine days into this military intervention, Americans still have no answer to the fundamental question: What does success in Libya look like?”
Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-Texas) ripped the speech as too little, too late.
“President Obama failed to explain why he unilaterally took our nation to war without bothering to make the case to the US Congress. And now, he’s splitting the difference — telling us Khadafy must go but refusing to do what it takes to remove him,” he said.
Obama made it clear he believes he had a humanitarian mandate to take the action he did.
“Innocent people were targeted for killing,” he said. “We had a unique ability to stop that violence . . . and a plea for help from the Libyan people themselves.”