He remains defiant:
Moammar Gadhafi’s snipers and tanks reportedly were attacking civilians in the coastal city of Misurata, a resident said, and the U.S. military warned it was “considering all options” in response to dire conditions there that have left people cowering in darkened homes and scrounging for food and rainwater.
Also Tuesday, President Obama said the U.S. is days away from turning over control of the air assault on Libya to other countries. Just how that will be accomplished remains in dispute: Obama spoke Tuesday with British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in hopes of quickly resolving the squabble over the transition.
“When this transition takes place, it is not going to be our planes that are maintaining the no-fly zone. It is not going to be our ships that are necessarily enforcing the arms embargo. That’s precisely what the other nations are going to do,” the president said at a news conference in El Salvador as he neared the end of a Latin American trip overshadowed by events in Libya.
Gadhafi, meanwhile, made his first public appearance in a week, promising enthusiastic supporters at his residential compound in Tripoli, “In the short term, we’ll beat them, in the long term, we’ll beat them.”
Libyan state TV broadcast what it said was live coverage of Gadhafi’s less-than-five-minute statement. Standing on a balcony, he denounced the coalition bombing attacks on his forces.
“O great Libyan people, you have to live now, this time of glory, this is a time of glory that we are living,” he said.
What’s next President Obama? Did you think ahead and foresee these circusmtances? What will you do now?
Voting present is no longer an option.
