U.S. support in Libya includes lead roles

WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. air campaign to turn the Libyan army against leader Moammar Gadhafi will expand, even as Washington turns the operation to NATO, military officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama emphasized in a speech Monday night the U.S. role in the assault would be limited, saying the United States would "play a supporting role -- including intelligence, logistical support, search and rescue assistance, and capabilities to jam regime communications."

But this support work includes taking the lead in gathering intelligence, intercepting Libyan radio transmissions and using the information to attack Libyan forces on the ground, military officials told The New York Times.

It also includes using psychological operations in the hope of breaking the Gadhafi force's will to fight, the officials said. This includes broadcasting messages in Arabic and English, telling Libyan soldiers and sailors to abandon their posts and go back to their homes and families, and to defy Gadhafi's orders.

The idea is to hit Libyan forces hard enough and fast enough that they'll give up and oust Gadhafi on their own, the officials told the Times.

Obama has said Gadhafi must go, but he stressed Monday, in his first major address since ordering the U.S. airstrikes on Gadhafi forces and artillery March 19, that directing U.S. troops to forcibly remove him from power would be a step too far.

"If we tried to overthrow Gadhafi by force, our coalition would splinter," he said. "We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground, or risk killing many civilians from the air. The dangers faced by our men and women in uniform would be far greater. So would the costs, and our share of the responsibility for what comes next."

The White House strategy is to persuade the Libyan forces through military might and psychological actions that "they're fighting for a lost cause," retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper told the Times.

"You're probably dealing with a force that may not be totally motivated to continue this for the long haul," he said.

The United States has supplied much more firepower than any other country, officials also told the Times.

The allies have fired nearly 200 Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles since the campaign began. All but seven of them were from the United States.

The United States and its allied partners have each flown about 370 attack missions, but U.S. forces have dropped 455 precision-guided munitions compared with 147 from other coalition members, the newspaper said.