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Washington, Mar. 21 (ANI): The military strikes on Libya by Britain, France and the United States that began on Saturday may threaten the government of that country itself, notwithstanding the Obama administration’s denial that it is seeking to unseat Colonel Muammar Gaddafi from power.

So far, all deliberations over what military action to take against Gaddafi have failed to answer the most fundamental question — Is it merely to protect the Libyan population from his government and troops, or is it intended to fulfill President Obama’s objective declared two weeks ago that Gaddafi “must leave”?

On Sunday, Vice-Admiral William E. Gortney, who is overseeing the American operations in Libya, said that the Pentagon is not targetting Gaddafi, though media reports from Tripoli mentioned a loud explosion and billowing smoke from one of Gaddafi’s compounds.

According to the New York Times, Washington’s delay in starting the onslaught may complicate its path toward achieving its stated objective in the end.

“It took 22 days from the time that Colonel Gaddafi’s forces first opened fire on protesters in Libya for the United Nations-backed military assault to begin. By the time American cruise missiles reached Libyan targets on Saturday, Colonel Gaddafi’s troops, reinforced by mercenaries, had pushed Libyan rebels from the edge of Tripoli in western Libya all the way back to Benghazi in the east, and were on the verge of overtaking that last rebel stronghold.”"But the strike, when it came, landed hard, turning the government force outside Benghazi into wreckage and encouraging the rebels to regroup.”According to Arizona’s Republican Senator John McCain, the United States has acted late, and had it acted two weeks earlier, “a no-fly zone would probably have been enough.”

Other experts on the region, and even a few administration officials, acknowledge that the job of getting Gaddafi to step down might have been easier if the international assault had begun when rebels seemed to have held the upper hand, rather than when the anti-Gaddafi rebellion was compressed into Benghazi and its environs.Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on “Meet the Press” on NBC that regime change was not the point of the military assault.

He said: “It’s about supporting the United Nations resolution, which talked to limiting or eliminating his ability to kill his own people as well as support the humanitarian effort.”Asked if the military mission could be accomplished and Colonel Gaddafi still remains in power, Admiral Mullen replied: “That’s certainly potentially one outcome.” (ANI)