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Pressure might get to Gaddafi - NATO

Published:Wednesday | March 30, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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A Rafale jet fighter is being refuelled, as part of the Operation Odyssey Dawn. A French military spokesman said Monday French aircraft have struck a Libyan military command centre south of the capital, Tripoli. - AP Photos
Libyan rebels flee as shelling from Gaddafi's forces start landing on the frontline outside of Bin Jawaad, 150 km east of Sirte, central Libya, yesterday.
Injured Libyan rebels arrive at a hospital after clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces in Ras Lanouf, Libya, yesterday. Libyan government tanks and rockets blunted a rebel assault on Moammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte yesterday.
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WASHINGTON, United States (AP):

A top NATO commander says there is a reasonable chance Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi will go under pressure from the United States and its partners.

Admiral James Stavridis, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told a congressional panel yesterday that if the US and its partners "work all elements of power there's more than a reasonable chance of Gaddafi leaving".

Stavridis said there are several possibilities, including a stalemate or "Gaddafi cracking". He said a stalemate would not be in the US interest.

In the meantime, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee say President Barack Obama was right to use military force in Libya.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and Republican John McCain of Arizona made the comments yesterday at the start of a congressional hearing and the day after Obama's speech on Libya.

Levin said Obama has taken a thoughtful and deliberate approach to avert a bloodbath in Libya. McCain, Obama's 2008 rival for president, said Obama's decision to intervene was right and necessary.