WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) — President Barack Obama on Saturday said the U.S. mission in Libya is succeeding and already saved ‘countless’ of lives, but said the country cannot intervene every time there is a crisis somewhere in the world.
Obama made the remarks in his weekly radio and internet address, making it the first time he formally addressed the American people on the situation in Libya. “When I ordered our armed forces to help protect the Libyan people from the brutality of Muammar Gaddafi, I pledged to keep the American people fully informed,” he said.
The speech comes a day after Obama briefed a group of Members of Congress on the situation in Libya. Some Members of Congress have repeatedly called on the President to give a formal televised address, lay out his goals in Libya, and and to declare war with the African nation, although that is not expected to happen. On Monday evening, however, Obama will speak about Libya in a televised address.
In Saturday’s speech, Obama said its military mission in Libya is ‘clear and focused’, despite some criticism. “We’re succeeding in our mission,” he said. “We’ve taken out Libya’s air defenses. Gaddafi’s forces are no longer advancing across Libya.”
The U.S. military action against Libyan forces is authorized under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 which calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya and to take “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from government-led attacks.
The President said that, as Commander in Chief, there is “no greater decision” than sending American service members into harm’s way. “The United States should not – and cannot – intervene every time there’s a crisis somewhere in the world,” Obama said.
“I firmly believe that when innocent people are being brutalized, when someone like Gaddafi threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region, and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives – then it’s in our national interest to act. And it’s our responsibility. This is one of those times,” Obama said.
Obama further said scores of civilian lives have already been saved because of the military intervention in Libya. “Because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians – innocent men, women and children – have been saved,” he emphasized.
“Every American can be proud of the lives we’ve saved in Libya and of the service of our men and women in uniform who once again have stood up for our interests and our ideals,” Obama added. “And people in Libya and around the world are seeing that the United States of America stands with those who hope for a future where they can determine their own destiny.”
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton siad that the US will not interfere in Syria because every situation is unique. She said in Libya the government used war planes to straff, bomb and kill civilians but in Syria the governmnet is not using war planes to kill civilians. In essence what Ms Clinton is saying is that with America, it is ok for a government to kill protesters with guns, swords and pistols. So therefore, only America and Israel has the right to kill civilians with bombs and war planes. This is what they are doing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.
The hyppocrisy of the United “Snakes” of America has been blatantly revealed. Ms Clinton has been forced to put her foot in her mouth with this hippocritcal statement. We all know that Syria has no oil that is up for grabs therefore America is not interested. America will soon find itself on the akward side of history and will become an irrelevant partner in world affairs. Because of it’s double standards the masses of the world will shun them. Russian, China, India and Germany are waiting on the sidelines for when America collapses.
To many crimes and lies are being perpetuated by America. Just imagine they are killing civilians in Libya and Mr. Gates is saying that Gaddafy is carrying dead people and placing them at the bomb sites.Who on earth will believe that lie. Death from bombs are quite different from death from bullets or other causes so only the bum head will believe that.
I am an American, and I been saying this for a long time. It’s only a matter of time until our foreign policy comes back and bite us in the ass. Oh and add Brazil, Turkey and Spain to the list as well.
Well said Bro. Obama. You all have dirty ways but America keeps us protected from worse people than you all.
It is all about Libyan oil. Nelson Mandella spent 24 years in prison in South Africa and black people were killed by the thousands. A no-fly zone was never established and there was no humanitarian mission to save the civilian population. It was so just because the US and its allies supported, funded and armed the apathied government of South Africa. Palestinian children and women are killed everyday by Israel but no one is raising a finger to save the people of Palestine. Don’t we need a no-fly zone in Palestine to?
President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. it was expected that he would be a man to put peace or mediate for peace. To our great surprise he turned up to be just like his predecessor -George Bush. Isn’t he not ashamed of the prize? Today Mr. Obama is teaching us that war is peace, lies are truths and ignorance is strength.
Libya is Africa’s last Pan Africanist and socialist state in Africa, and like a vampire who hasn’t seen a human in years, Mr. Obama and his European allies are salivating at the possibility of sucking its oil.
To make my point clearer the population of the U.S. is 300 million, which is only 5% of the world’s population of 6 billion, yet it consumes 30% of the world’s production of oil. The U.S. produces 5.9 million barrels of oil a day and imports 17.1 million barrels of oil a day. This means that 74% of the United States oil consumption comes from other countries. The world produces 80 million barrels of oil a day. Libya ranks 15th in the world in production of oil – it produces 2 million barrels of oil a day.
Therefore, from these facts a logical deduction can be made that U.S. consumption of oil is out of proportion to its own production. This suggests that U.S. deficiency in the production of oil causes it to use any means necessary for taking other countries oil for its own consumption levels, which is the most significant factor for the current bombing by Obama of Libya today.
There are millions of people crying and dying for Freedom every day at the hands of Ruthless dictators and the US and its allies are protecting and arming these dictators. Case in point – Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and more. If you have guts, open this link to view the pictures of the massacres taking place in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/ApPcImKh/sharing.html
Do you think the American elite and zionist will allow a president in America who will not serve their interests? The president is only one man but you have an American regime, this is where the filth is.
Good points my friend, I strongly agree with you. I applaud your sentiments. I pray one day many people in Dominica will see things logically rather than being brainwashed by zionist media
Well written, i agree with you 100% ,only a house slave would disagree.
Well said!!! Unfortunately you are preaching to thousands of Dominicans who are brainwashed by biased reporting, lies and propaganda from media outlets such as CNN, FOX and BBC and as such will never comprehend the truth of all this charade and hypocracy that is currently ongoing. It is indeed a shame that we black people (and third world people in general) cannot free ourselves from this type of mental slavery and defend our sufering brothers and sisters against this type of imperialist domination.
It is a shame that they are using a Black president to continue this shameful display of world dominiance!! When are we ever going to learn????????
Good speech. There are some who say the It is about the oil. Only if they understood what is taking place.
its more than just oil.. but it is definatly about oil ehh.
Do you really understand what is taking place my friend? If you did, then you surely wouldn’t have made such a DUMB statement!!!
You are supporting the terrorist, hope you are correct. they might come back for you.
No one knows, not even America who these “revolutionary, freedom fighters” are.
They could be a second coming of khadafi, Khadafi in another form, who knows. It would not be the first time America has back the wrong horse. Time alone will tell who these “revolutionaries” are.
A true revolutionary’s greatest accomplishment is not just overthrowing authority, but plotting and executing his or her own overthrow once they have gotten power.
If all you believe what that mako Chavez says about the US you all should be in bed with him. The US is in Libya to help the civilians against that ugly dictator SOB Gaddafi. Chavez and all his supporters would rather the US do nothing while Gaddafi has innocent people murdered. Why are yall so foolish and hate America? America has nothing to do with your Labour Party, Workers Party, Freedom Party, or any politics in DA. The British had more influence over DA so blame them for your problems not the US.
America will always be hated across the world due to her foreign policies. No one will trust America, this country is known for invading countries, spreading war, death and destruction.
The only thing the UN and NATO should have maintained in the No fly zone in Libya to protect the civilians, however, we see America dropping 2,000 pound depleted uranium bombs which are killing Libyan civilians as well. http://www.presstv.com/detail/171881.html
The Libyans are already conquering most of the territories so Qaddafi’s days are numbered. The Libyan people need our support by sending experts on the ground to help them defeat Qaddafi, this is what should have been done, not by invading Libya. Everytime there is oil, these zionist regimes invade lands.
The Darfur crisis, how comes not one of them invaded? In Sierra Leone or anywhere there is no oil, the people can die for all they care because zionists are a racist regime and they have nothing to benefit.
It’s all about their economic interest! I hope you do wisen up USA.
USA, that is what you keep thinking. Them man Blindfolding allu. They hardly ever tell the truth. hardly ever. They trying to use libians to turn against Gadaffi, dat is the first step to war, crumble the root, the root which is the ppl. America will have thier day unno. you see how they like to put thier self in other ppl business, when thier time comes, i am certain ppl will turn thier back on them because they know that the food they were feeding them with was slow poison. watch dat.
This guy is worth nothing, As president of the USA he is just a figure head. Black people always think they were going to get things their way,will have to come again.
The double standard played out in the USA this week with the Jews killing people in Palestine, did you hear OBama telling the Jews he will attack.
The Jews are using war plane against people with no arms.
Obama need to go and go now. If it is Bush that was doing that I would understand.
This the great black man that talk about peace and he is waging war.
Agreed my friend
As events unfold, the majority of the western audience will come to understand the madness their governments and elites are doing.
I commend the overall job DNO is doing, however, I am very dissatisfied with DNO’s approach to covering the situation in the Middle East. I sent an email many weeks ago advising DNO to place http://www.presstv.com as one of the websites along with many others for international news.
DNO you reported on Obama’s speech regarding civilians lives being saved, however, on http://www.presstv.com/detail/171881.html shows that US drops 2,000 pound depleted uranium bombs on cities in Libya.
According to press tv, “DU munitions are controversial because they raise long-term health concerns like kidney damage, cancer, skin disorders and genetic defects.” These are confirmed medical facts
“[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way… I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people,” said Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd.), Lawrence Livermore Lab in California.
Our Dominican people still have a very prejudiced approach towards Africa and muslims as the media has a great responsibility for these biased and unethical reporting.
In short, I hope DNO would consider this advice and allow the people of Dominica to see different points of view in reporting. Thank you.
Admin: As the old saying goes “we cannot be all things to all men” but we have carried stories from presstv. For example our story of Chavez saying all the US and the allies wanted was Libya’s oil (http://dominicanewsonline.com/dno/chavez-us-allies-want-libyan-oil/) was from presstv and was not carried in the mainstream western media. There is just so much we can do.
Well then Admin, if you do carry reports from press tv, why is it not included in your International News Links? I believe it’s only fair that your audience should be aware of press tv which is a known International media house. Don’t you think admin?
Admin: thanks for the suggestion.
More propaganda from the puppet.
This is sick. The world is corrupted. Jah kows what his mission is and it is “clear and focused” the evil that men do is about to be demolished. It is clear that they use the news to let ppl take thier side when they give thier sad story. I pray for the offence and defence. May they find peace in thier hearts. No resolution?.. them man cannot just come to a reasonable conclusion, you mean “greed” that have them man so. Well i come here with nothing and i enjoying my life with nature, my mortal body with die with nothing.. that is the only thing i really concern about: taking care of it and eating healthy.
They should have more positive news stories. really. really!!!!