The Hill News

Despite all the talk in Washington and London about establishing a “no-fly zone” over Libya to forcibly prevent Col. Moammar Gadhafi from bombing his own people, such a measure would require U.N. cover unless the U.S. and its allies want to go it alone with an invasion.

In the light of the 2003 Iraq invasion, which was opposed by then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), it is unlikely that President Obama would approve unilateral military action now to topple the Libyan dictator.

The U.S. delegation to the U.N. attempted to slip a reference to U.N. member states using "all means necessary to protect civilians and key installations" into the resolution on Libya adopted by the U.N. Security Council last Friday, according to the Turtle Bay blog by Washington Post U.N. correspondent Colum Lynch. The resolution, which was strong by U.N. standards, imposed an arms embargo, assets freeze and travel ban on Gadhafi and his regime, and referred Libya to th! e International Criminal Court. But it was adopted nevertheless without the language sought by the U.S., which would have provided a legal basis for the no-fly zones.

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