‘Operation Odyssey Dawn’ — The U.S. role in Libya

Air Date: March 22, 2011

Hour 1

Libyan rebels arrive at the front line on the outskirts of the city of Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi, eastern Libya, on Monday. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

As U.S. and coalition forces continue attacking Libya by sea and air in an effort to enforce a U.N.-sanctioned no-fly zone, we’ll talk about the goals and objectives of the U.S. intervention. While originally framed as a humanitarian effort to protect Libyan citizens from abuses at the hand of a despotic leader, some voices within the Obama Administration say that Moammar Ghaddafi “has to go,” while others say that he is not a target of the attacks. All this — along with a change of heart from the Arab League, promises that the U.S. will not have a leadership role in the mission, and questions about just who is leading the rebellion — adds to confusion over the U.S. role. We’re joined by University of New England political scientist ALI AHMIDA, who was born in Libya; ROMESH RATNESAR, Contributing Editor-at-Large at Time magazine and a Fellow at the New America Foundation; and MICAH ZENKO of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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[audio: 032211_100630.mp3]

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