Coalition attacks to focus more on Libya troops

Updated at 7:11 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition forces intend to accelerate attacks on ground forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in "coming hours and days," the top U.S. on-scene commander said Tuesday, amid growing congressional doubt about the strategy and goals of an American-led international mission.

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Two dozen more Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from U.S. and British submarines late Monday and early Tuesday, a defense official said. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III did not give details.

In his first public appearance in a week, Qaddafi was shown in a brief live address on Libyan TV Tuesday standing on a balcony before a crowd of supporters. Denouncing the coalition bombing attacks on his forces, he told them, "in the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them."

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The Pentagon released that U.S. and British ships have fired 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles aimed at disabling Libyan command and control facilities, air defenses and other targets since the operation started Saturday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

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CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that the Libyans allowed access to a naval base in Tripoli harbor Tuesday that was reduced to twisted, smoking wreckage. The regime complained that the U.N. mandate to protect civilians is being turned -- they say -- into a war against the Qaddafi regime, even targeting his navy, which the rebels say Qaddafi has used to shell towns they were holding.

The Libyans said six bombs were dropped on what they insist was just a repair and storage facility, Phillips reports. But at least three double-missile transporter vehicles were destroyed and a clutch of Soviet-era vintage rockets were stored in a corner.

Locklear said Libyan ground troops will be more vulnerable as the coalition grows in size and capability, but he declined to provide details of future targeting. He spoke to reporters at the Pentagon from aboard his command ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship is a headquarters for the U.S.-led aerial assault on Libya, which for now involves heavy U.S. firepower and a range of fighter, bomber and support aircraft.

Asked if international forces were stepping up strikes on Qaddafi ground troops, Locklear said that as the "capability of the coalition" grows, it will be able to do more missions aimed at ground troops who are not complying with the UN resolution to protect those seeking Qaddafi's removal.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps offered fresh details of its role in the rescue of an Air Force F-15E pilot who ejected over eastern Libya on Monday. The plane's weapons system officer, who also ejected and made it safely back to U.S. control, was recovered in a separate operation not involving the Marines.

Unconfirmed reports from Libya said a number of civilians were wounded, apparently during the pilot rescue, but the circumstances were murky.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports from the rebel capital of Benghazi that somehow Libyans who were helping the American crew were mistaken as a threat. They said rescue aircraft opened fire.

Hamid Ati was shot. He told CBS News that he was trying to help the second American when he was hit.

"We would have picked him up and brought him wherever he wanted," Ati said through an interpreter.

His son was also injured and may lose his leg, but he still supports the Americans, as do most of the rebels, Clark reports.

A senior Marine Corps officer at the Pentagon, who discussed the pilot rescue operation on condition of anonymity because the F-15E's crash is still under investigation, said that during the course of the rescue a pair of 500-pound bombs were dropped by Marine AV-8B Harrier jets flying overhead.

The officer said the bombs were requested by the downed pilot, who reported concern that possibly hostile forces were approaching his position. The officer said it was unclear what the two bombs hit.

The pilot was picked up by an MV-22 Osprey aircraft that flew — along with a second Osprey, two CH-53E helicopters, two Harriers and one refueling aircraft — from aboard the USS Kearsarge. The officer said the rescue took 90 minutes, from the time the Marine aircraft launched from the Kearsarge shortly before midnight, local time, to their return to the ship. A security force of about 35 Marines that flew aboard the two CH-53Es did not get on the ground during the rescue, the officer said.

Locklear provided no details of the rescue but said the two-man crew of an F-15E ejected after the craft had mechanical problems during a strike mission against a Libyan missile site.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others said the U.S. military's role will lessen in coming days as other countries take on more missions and the need declines for large-scale offensive action like the barrage of cruise missiles also fired over the weekend mainly by U.S. ships and submarines.

President Obama has been traveling in Latin America throughout the Libya military campaign. On Tuesday while en route to El Salvador, he had a conference call aboard Air Force One with his national security team, including Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

Mr. Obama also called French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The three agreed that NATO "should play a key role" in commanding the Libya military operation, Rhodes said, but details had yet to be settled.

Locklear said the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar is expected to start flying air patrols over Libya by this weekend, becoming the first member of the Arab League to participate directly in the military mission. The U.S. wants to hand off control of the overall effort to another entity, but that prospect remained unsettled.

Members of Congress, including a number from Mr. Obama's own party, are increasingly questioning the wisdom of U.S. involvement.

"We began a military action at the same time that we don't have a clear diplomatic policy, or a clear foreign policy when it comes to what's going on in Libya," Democratic Sen. Jim Webb said, adding that the Obama administration lacks a clear understanding of rebel forces trying to oust Qaddafi, who has ruled for 42 years.

"Do we know what their intentions would be? Would they be able to govern if they were to succeed? And the answer is we don't really know," Webb said.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, another Democrat, said he would offer an amendment to the next budget resolution that would prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to fund U.S. military operations in Libya.

Officials from the Pentagon, State and Treasury Departments and intelligence operations held a closed briefing for congressional staff on Libya. Among those discussing the operation were Gene Cretz, the U.S. ambassador to Libya; David Cohen, Mr. Obama's nominee as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence; and officials from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a participant said.

The congressional source spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was classified.

They focused on the U.S. military assets in the region and provided some specifics. Cohen discussed the U.S. ability to freeze Libyan assets.

The officials refused to address the cost of the operation, the congressional source said.

The U.S. Treasury Department broadened sanctions on Libyan individuals and business entities Tuesday.

In his overview of the military operation to date, Locklear said the no-fly zone authorized last week by the U.N. Security Council is being effectively implemented.

"It's my judgment, however, that despite our successes to date, that Qaddafi and his forces are not yet in compliance with the United Nations Security Council resolution, due to the continued aggressive actions his forces are taking against the civilian population of Libya," Locklear said.

Qaddafi's forces have yet to stop threatening or attacking civilians in major cities such as Misrata, Locklear said. The Libyan air defenses and offensive air forces have been effectively neutralized by U.S. and coalition attacks, Locklear said, but Libyan ground forces are still engaged in threatening acts.

He said intelligence showed that Qaddafi's forces were attacking civilians in Misrata, Libya's third-largest city. In a joint statement to Qaddafi late Friday, the United States, Britain and France called on him to end his troops' advance toward Benghazi and pull them out of the cities of Misrata, Ajdabiya and Zawiya.

Asked how the coalition could protect civilians in cities like Misrata using air power alone, Locklear said the coalition is "considering all options" but did not elaborate.