More U.S. help may be crucial to Qaddafi's exit
Libyan rebels have been begging NATO to step up its attacks on Muammar Qaddafi's military.
On Wednesday, it did, with new air strikes in four cities, including Tripoli, where an ammunition bunker was hit.
Also on Wednesday, representatives from 16 western and Middle Eastern countries met in Qatar. All agreed to support the rebels and said Qaddafi must go.
"CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric spoke with national security correspondent David Martin and correspondent Elizabeth Palmer about America's military role in Libya.
Couric: The U.S. says it's operating only in support of NATO. What does that mean?
Martin: Well, it turns out it means more than we thought. The Pentagon revealed today that, despite previous assurances the U.S. was no longer striking targets on the ground, American jets have in fact attacked Libyan air defense sites three times in the last 10 days. Add in aerial refueling, reconnaissance and electronic jamming missions and the U.S. is flying 35 percent of all the NATO missions.
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Couric: So why are the Europeans and the rebels complaining that the U.S. isn't doing enough?
Martin: They want the U.S. to attack not just Qaddafi's air defenses but his ground forces, and specifically they want to bring in AC-130 gunships. Here's the problem: In a video, you can see a British jet dropping a bomb on a Libyan tank. It destroys the tank, but then look what happens - all the Libyan soldiers that were operating with that tank flee in pickup trucks. It's hard to bomb a pickup truck, but you can attack it with an AC-130 gunship.
Couric: Is the U.S. likely to give into European demands and send in the AC-130s?
Martin: The AC-130s have been placed on a 12-hour alert, so the gunships are ready to go if and when NATO military commanders, as opposed to diplomats, ask for them.
Couric also spoke with correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, currently in Libya, about the political situation.
Couric: What signs do you see in Tripoli that the NATO airstrikes and economic sanctions are weakening Qaddafi's government?
Palmer: The government is obviously weaker; for a start, it's lost two million foreign workers. (Yet) things are remarkably stable. There are no food shortages yet.
There are gasoline shortages. Libya doesn't refine enough, so that every gasoline station has lineups a mile long outside and the government may be forced to consider rationing.
The bottom line is, how long before the Qaddafi government runs out of money? I spoke to the finance minister just a few minutes ago and he said the government has a war chest of $40 billion. So they're going to be solvent, he said, for some months yet.
Couric: Is there any progress on the diplomatic front?
Palmer: Very little, in spite of high level talks today in the Gulf Kingdom of Qatar. The problem is that the rebels and their international backers have two conflicting objectives. Call a ceasefire on the one hand, and on the other, force Colonel Qaddafi out of power.
A ceasefire now would leave Qaddafi in power, but most analysts say that to force him out would require just the opposite: a ramping up of the military effort.