US leaders differ over no-fly zone

March 4, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama’s reluctance to use military force in Libya’s civil upheaval is putting him at odds with key players in Congress and undermining the White House’s effort to show strong support for political reform in the Middle East.

Obama has made clear that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi should relinquish power. But senior officials also have signaled they have no taste for imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has criticized “loose talk” about a no-fly zone, which he called a major effort that would be tantamount to an attack on an Arab state. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration is far from such a decision, warning of the need to avoid perceptions that the U.S. wants to “invade for oil.”

But in Congress, both liberals and conservatives have embraced the idea.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a customary Obama supporter, said that the U.S. and allies “should not be on the sidelines” as Gadhafi attacks the Libyan people. This week, the Senate adopted a nonbinding resolution calling for the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone.

A number of senior Republican lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona; Florida’s Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Michigan’s Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee, have strongly endorsed the idea.

Rogers said the no-fly zone also could deter Gadhafi from striking rebels with his chemical weapons and offers the U.S. a way to “project power without getting engaged on the ground.”