Pentagon officials come under fire from GOP on Libya

Pentagon officials came under fire Thursday from House and
Senate Republicans about the Libyan military intervention, but for different
reasons.

House Armed Services Committee Republicans questioned the
Obama administration’s decision to intervene and its mission plans, while their
Senate Armed Services Committee counterparts called for the administration to
put more muscle in the mission.

During an afternoon session, some Senate Republicans
criticized the administration for taking a backseat to NATO and coalition
militaries on aerial strike missions targeting Gadhafi’s ground units.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Gates and Mullen: “Who
would be mad at us if we dropped a bomb on Gadhafi?”

Committee ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) panned the administration’s
war plans, saying that falling into a supporting role in NATO’s operations is
a “profound mistake.”

“For the United States to be withdrawing our unique
offensive capabilities at this time sends the exact wrong signal,” McCain said,
“both to our coalition partners as well as to the Gadhafi regime – especially
to those Libyan officials whom we are trying to compel to break with Gadhafi.”

McCain said Washington should not claim to be neutral and should
unleash all of its offensive combat power to bring about its political
objective of getting Gadhafi to relinquish power. A stalemate is in no one’s
interest, McCain said.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said she “can’t see how we
succeed” without using every military tool that could bring about Gadhafi’s
ouster.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman
Adm. Michael Mullen told the hawkish GOP senators that the U.S. move to a
supporting role was always the plan and well understood by its allies.

During a hearing Thursday morning in the House, GOP members
were skeptical about the operation.

On Wednesday, following a classified White House briefing
with lawmakers, a frustrated House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep.
Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) said he feels boots on the ground will be required to resolve the situation in
Libya.

“We did no-fly zones in Iraq and Bosnia, and those didn’t
resolve anything,” McKeon told The Hill. “For this thing to be resolved,
someone is going to have to put boots on the ground.”

Also on Wednesday, McKeon told The Hill he would not have
launched the intervention.

On Thursday, McKeon said the administration’s military goal
of protecting Libyan civilians and its political objective that Gadhafi
relinquish power “seems like two mutually exclusive points.”

“This sounds like foreshadowing of an entrenched military
operation,” McKeon said. “If it is not permissible for [Gadhafi] to remain in
power, why is there a limited military mission?”

The defense secretary was also questioned as to why the
administration opted against consulting closely with Congress before the onset
of the Libyan operation.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said it appears to many lawmakers
that the War Powers Act “has not been complied with.”

The defense secretary said he has worked for eight
presidents and seven have taken similar actions as Obama did on Libya. The
congressional notification for armed conflicts has created tensions between the
executive branch and Congress “for 35 years,” Gates said.

Turner told Gates and Mullen “there is a significant
question whether you have Congress’s support,” adding: “I think if there was a
vote today, I doubt it would pass.”

Graham predicted lawmakers will vote on a resolution that
would authorize the operation soon, and he warned the Pentagon leaders the
administration’s plans must get “more clear and more decisive” if it hopes to
garner congressional approval.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) said he is confident such a vote
on the House floor would fall on partisan lines.

Senior Pentagon brass said U.S. national security officials
know very little about Libyan opposition groups.

Gates and Mullen told the House panel that the Libyan
opposition is a number of disorganized groups with differing agendas.

“It’s pretty much a pick-up game at this point,” Gates said
during a morning hearing, adding that it is unclear whether the rebels have a
collective leader or if they are working in unison. “Other than a handful of
leaders, we don’t have a good picture of the opposition,” he said bluntly.

Under questioning by Larsen about steps the U.S. military is
taking to organize the rebel elements, Gates responded that “part of the
challenge is the rebels are so disparate and so scattered.”

This means U.S. and coalition forces “have little means of
doing that,” the outgoing defense secretary told the panel.

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) pressed the defense officials on
efforts to get arms to Libyan opposition fighters, which, as he put it, “seem
to be getting their butts whipped.”

Administration and Pentagon officials, Mullen said, have yet
to decide on whether to take steps to arm the rebels.

Echoing comments Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
John Kerry (D-Mass.) told reporters Wednesday evening, Mullen told Miller
“there are plenty of nations with the arms and skills sets to do this.”

Turner questioned how U.S. national security officials can
have so little information.

Gates shot back that the coalition acted not to boost the
opposition elements, but because “we know a lot about Gadhafi” and how
destabilizing to the region he could be.