The Hill News

The Obama administration envisions an "endgame" in Libya in which the people of that country are able to choose their own leader, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday.

Amid criticism, especially from Republicans, that President Obama didn't sufficiently outline an endgame for U.S. military involvement in Libya, Carney said it involved Col. Moammar Gadhafi's ouster or isolation, though whatever nonmilitary means necessary.

"There is also the administration policy that Muammar Qaddafi is no longer fit to lead and should leave power. And we are obviously pursuing a number of different means, non-lethal means, non-military means, to help bring that about, to pressure Qaddafi, to isolate him, and to create an environment where the Libyan people hopefully will be able to create their own future with the leaders that they deserve and that they pick," Carney said in a gaggle aboard Air Force One. "And that's the endgame that we envision."

Republicans carped Tuesday and accused the president of outlining no discernible goals or visions for military action in Libya.

"What is the ultimate outcome? What's the desired outcome, for example? If our policy isn't regime change, what is our policy?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked Tuesday of Obama's speech.

Carney said he thought the president was emphatically clear about what's been accomplished so far in Libya, and what the U.S. would support there going forward.

"Well, I think the President was very clear about what our mission was, what we've accomplished in such a short period of time, the number of lives that have been saved," he said.