(via NY Daily News)
America and its allies bombarded Libyan despot Moammar Khadafy’s forces by air and by sea Saturday, marking the largest international military effort since the 1991 and 2002 Iraq wars.
U.S. and British warships and submarines fired 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses – striking more than 20 sites in the western portion of the country – soon after French warplanes obliterated several of Khadafy’s tanks in the rebel-held east.
Libyan state TV, quoting the armed forces command, said 48 people were killed and 150 wounded in the allied offensive. The casualty figures could not be verified.
Khadafy vowed to retaliate, condemning the attacks as “a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war.”
“Arms depots have been opened, and all the Libyan people are being armed” to battle the Western forces, Khadafy said in a telephone call to state TV.
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Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced hours later that the government has ceased attacks on the rebels – the second such declaration in as many days – but Secretary of State Clinton brushed aside the claim.
“We would have to see action on the ground, and that is not yet at all clear,” Clinton said.
The U.S. and European strikes were launched about 12:45 p.m. after the Libyan dictator defied his own ceasefire in a frenzied effort to crush rebel forces.
British fighter planes later joined in the air assault, officials said.
President Obama, traveling in Brazil, confirmed U.S. involvement in a “limited” mission – dubbed “Odyssey Dawn” – to enforce a UN no-fly zone.
“We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy,” Obama said.
The move against Libya by the U.S., France, Britain, Canada and Italy – backed by Arab nations – came after an emergency summit in Paris.
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