Obama has it right in Libya

By Col. William Peterson

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President Obama has got it right in Libya.

He had to wait until the Arab League demanded implementing a no-fly zone and other measures to stop the rampant killing of citizens in Benghazi, Misrata and Ajdabiya.

Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice were outstanding in getting the United Nations Security Council to authorize the no-fly zone and other measures to stop the killing. Had Obama gone to Congress before the U.N. vote to authorize the United States to go to war in Libya, it would appear to be a U.S. attack on Libya and we wouldn't have gotten the U.N. Security Council approval.

Benghazi is now safe after the destruction of the Libya armored brigade that was attacking it.

Now allied planes are concentrating on Misrata and Ajdabiya. We need to engage Apache and Cobra gunships from Marine LPH's off the coast and A-10s from Sicily to take out the tanks, rocket launchers and artillery that are inside Misrata and Ajdabiya. These platforms are much more effective in close air support.

It will probably only take a couple of days per town to take out all Libyan armor and artillery assets.

We and our allies need to establish no ground movement zones as well as no-fly zone so any military vehicle found on the roads will be destroyed. This can be accomplished by satellite coverage, predator drones and night fighters like the A-6ES. This will deny the Libyan army any supply of the isolated units in Misrata, Ajdabiya and Sirte and will keep them from redeploying and reinforcing their units. As more and more Libyan units in the cities along the coastal highway to Tripoli are destroyed and liberated, it will be clear to any rational Libyan general, perhaps not to Moammar Gadhafi, what fate awaits them.

Arrest warrants need to be issued against Gadhafi for war crimes and any of his generals who continue to direct fighters to shoot civilians.

We need to recognize the provisional government and release some of the frozen $30 billion Libyan funds to the provisional government and encourage Egypt to continue giving arms to the rebels, including U.S. anti-tank jaguar missiles.

To improve rebel forces' communication by cellphone, we may need to contract with a Libyan cellphone service provider to install additional towers along the road to Tripoli. Of course, the location of these new cell towers would need to be under rebel control.

We need to be patient and as long as we keep up the pressure and implement the above steps, Gadhafi will either be dead or in Hague within two months.

Col. William Peterson of North Liberty is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps. Comments: petersonarch@aol.com