Libyan no-fly zone: Resistance is futile
In this Wednesday March 23, 2011 photo provided by the French Army, French Navy Rafale jet fighters on the deck of Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean sea.
(Credit: AP Photo/Raphael Martinez)The major news reported Thursday on the Libyan front was a French Rafale fighter jet patrolling the no-fly zone above Misurata attacking and obliterating what was likely a Libyan military trainer aircraft . A U.S. official said the Libyan aircraft may have been landing at a military base when it was hit by a missile launched from the French fighter jet.
Taking out a Libyan aircraft, especially one that is a sitting duck, isn't a major coup for the Operation Odyssey Dawn coalition. The technology and firepower of the coalition can easily make mincemeat of the Libyan aircraft and defenses.
On Wednesday, Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber, chief of staff of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, said, "Libyan air forces have been interdicted and attrited. Those aircraft have either been destroyed or rendered inoperable. We have no confirmed flight activity by regime air forces over the past 24 hours....In air defense activities, we have degraded the Libyan strategic surface-to-air missile systems to a negligible threat."
The one Libyan aircraft that tested the coalition's no-fly zone policy following Adm. Hueber's Wednesday assessment ended up a charred wreck, sending a "resistance is futile" message to Qaddafi's air corps.
Nonetheless, Col. Muammar Qaddafi continues to resist.
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During a Security Council briefing on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he sees no signs of a cease-fire by Libyan authorities. Pentagon officials said that coalition forces struck targets, including pro-Qaddafi forces in Tripoli, Misrata Ashdabiya and along the coast line. As NATO prepares to take command of coalition military operations in Libya, pro-Qaddafi forces barraged Misrata, but they were forced to retreat as coalition airstrikes targeted their positions.
"Air power can do a lot, but it can't root [tanks] out," said Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks, (ret.) U.S. Army. "The definition of rooting them out really implies that you've got to dig and the only way you're going to dig in to get that is through ground forces."
President Obama has categorically ruled out a land invasion to oust Qaddafi.
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"The no fly zone is not a video game that will have a quick ending with a winner and a loser," David Mack, former Assistant Secretary of State and scholar at the Middle East Institute told CBS News' David Martin. "We could have a prolonged period of Qaddafi control in a good part of west and southern central Libya and control by rebels in the eastern part of the country." Mack added that it's possible for Qaddafi to stay in place for another decade.
The rebels are another key variable in the Libyan conflict endgame. "We know very little about the composition of this Libyan opposition," Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations explained to Martin. "We're kind of stepping into a dark room. We have assumed responsibility for the dark room without understanding the traps and pitfalls."
Iman Bughaigis, a spokeswoman for the rebel force, said on Wednesday, "At the beginning, we thought it would just take a week or two weeks (to depose Qaddafi). Now we know it will take time. We need a government to liberate the eastern territories. It was just because there was a vacuum. We don't have political experience. We are learning as the days go by. Now there is an understanding that we need a structure."
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin contributed to this report
