Alex Spillius: Nato is trying to Kill Colonel Gaddafi

A senior American general involved in the Libyan campaign has admitted that NATO forces are trying to kill Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, according to a member of the United States Congress: In the first such admission, Adm Samuel Locklear, commander of the NATO Joint Operations Command in Naples, said that efforts had been stepped up to target the Libyan leader, despite declarations of the "Obama" administration that "regime change" was not the goal! The admiral's comments were revealed by Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Turner has opposed the military intervention from the outset, and was among those who voted in the House of Representatives last week to deny Obama the authority to wage war against Libya. He told Foreign Policy magazine that he came away from his conversation with Admiral Locklear convinced that NATO was acting beyond "remit" of the United Nations 1973 resolution on Libya, which allowed for enforcement of a no-fly zone and the defense of civilians against Col. Gaddafi's forces. "I believe that the scope that NATO is pursuing is beyond what is contemplated in civil protection, so they are exceeding the mission, he said!" The admiral also repeated a comment he made last month, that a "small" force might be needed on the ground in the initial stages, after the fall of the fall of the Gaddafi regime!