French foreign minister says war shouldn’t last longer than “a few months”
NATO troops launched their heaviest bombings so far of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s compound on Tuesday. According to Libyan officials, three people were killed and 150 wounded in the strike that NATO officials say targeted a military facility used in attacks against civilians. While the mission in Libya has the protection of civilians as its primary goal, critics say its focus has since come to include regime change. Indeed, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Monday that Gadhafi’s is now unable “to re-establish control over the country” and the U.S. welcomes the rise of “a new Libya.” Though the civil war between Gadhafi’s troops and anti-government rebels has been deadlocked for weeks, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told his country’s parliament he doesn’t expect the NATO mission to last longer than “a few months.”