Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi is a “legitimate target” so long as civilians are not hurt, British Defense Secetary Liam Fox says after Western allies bombed his compound in Tripoli. Pentagon spokesman William Gortney maintained, "We are not going after Qaddafi."
At least one building was reduced to rubble in the second bombing raid, a clear signal to Qaddafi that the British-American-French coalition does not accept his declaration of a ceasefire.
Fox said he would authorize a ‘bunker buster’ attack on the Qaddafi’s headquarters and vowed to destroy his military power.
The cruise missiles that pummeled the compound struck only 300 feet from a statue of a golden fist crushing a model of an airplane, with the letters “USA," a reference to Libya’s downing one American plane in the bombing of Libya in 1986.
A British general said the allies called off another bombing raid for fear that it would strike civilians, 300 of whom formed a human shield around Qaddafi’s compound.
Outside of Tripoli, bombing raids destroyed several vehicles belonging to Qaddafi’s supporters bear the rebel’s de facto capital of Benghazi.
Qaddafi last week was on the verge of overpowering the rebels, who only two weeks ago were in control of almost all of the country outside Tripoli. After the United Nations Security Council authorized the imposition of a “no-fly” order over Libya, the Western alliance quickly went into action and effectively grounded Qaddafi’s F-16 warplanes, which he used to bomb civilian targets, including oil and utility sites.
The Arab League has protested the strikes against Qaddafi, charging that the bombing raids were an exploitation of the United Nations decision.
British Defense Sectary Fox replied that he wanted Arab participation in the to makes it clear “on the Arab street that this is not about attacking the Arab world, [but] this is to defend the Libyan people against a vicious and brutal dictatorship.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the Obama administration expects the rebels to join or even take control of the anti-Qaddafi mission. Continuing the government policy of playing down its part in the offensive against Qaddafi, Gates said that the United States will not be an official member of the future coalition but will play a “preeminent role."