Obama has Given Ultimatum to Gaddafi

US President Barack Obama said the terms of a UN Security Council resolution backing action to defend civilians were "not negotiable".

He has said Libyan government forces must end their offensive against rebel-held towns and pull back - or face military action.

Col Muammar Gaddafi's government has declared a unilateral ceasefire, as attack plans are drawn up against him under the UN resolution.

There are reports government offensives are continuing despite the ceasefire.

Libyan officials have dismissed these as untrue and say international observers are being invited to Libya to verify the situation.

In the rebel-held western city of Misrata, which is surrounded by government forces, residents there told Reuters news agency that there was no sign of a ceasefire and that the city continued to be pounded by bombs and artillery.

And Arabic TV station al-Jazeera reported that pro-Gaddafi forces were advancing quickly towards the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Friday evening. Its correspondent reported that loyalist forces were clashing with rebels in the towns of al-Magroun and Slouq, about 50km (30 miles) from the city.

The city of Zawiya has already fallen to pro-Gaddafi forces, while there has been fierce fighting in and around Ajdabiya in recent days.

Mr Obama said: "All attacks against civilians must stop. Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi, pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiya, and establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas.

"Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya.

"Let me be clear, these terms are not negotiable. If Gaddafi does not comply, the international community will impose consequences, and the resolution will be enforced through military action.

"Our goal is focused, our cause is just and our coalition is strong."

The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told CNN that Col Gaddafi was in violation of the UN Security Council resolution, adopted on Thursday, which called for an immediate ceasefire and banned all flights over Libya.

But Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, said on Friday evening that Libyan government forces had conducted no military operations since announcing the ceasefire earlier.

"We have had no bombardment of any kind since the ceasefire was declared," he told reporters when asked about reports of continued government operations in Misrata and other parts of the country.
'Actions not words'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is travelling to Paris on Saturday to join allies in discussing the next steps in Libya.

The British and French, along with some Arab allies, are expected to play a leading role in any initial air strikes.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said everything was ready to launch military strikes in Libya.

The French ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, told the BBC he expected military intervention in Libya within hours of the Paris summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Col Gaddafi would be judged by "actions, not his words", and that British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft were being moved to bases in the region.

The commander in charge of planning for the no-fly zone will be US Adm Samuel Locklear, the BBC's Mark Urban has learned.

The US Navy is deploying additional warships to the Mediterranean to support possible military action.

Other countries that could take part in any military action include Denmark, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Norway and Qatar. Italy has offered the use of air bases.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted to impose a no-fly zone, expand existing sanctions and endorse the use of force - short of an occupation of the country - to protect civilians.

The 15-member council approved the resolution on Libya late on Thursday with 10 votes in favour, none against and five abstentions.

Russia and China - which often oppose the use of force against a sovereign country as they believe it sets a dangerous precedent - abstained rather than using their power of veto as permanent members.

Col Gaddafi has ruled Libya for more than 40 years. An uprising against him began last month after long-time leaders of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt were toppled.

US Navy Seal Operations in Iraq

In the recent past the US Navy SEALs has been in the news for its operations in Iraq. It all began in the year 2003 when President George Bush ordered the Navy SEALs to invade Iraq. This Navy SEALs operation was called ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’.

Why it started

It was generally believed at the time in 2003 that Iraq possessed and was also developing on an active basis, weapons of mass destruction or WMD. This was strictly in violation of the 1991 agreement between the US and Iraq that stated these WMDs needed to be given up unconditionally. Bush’s aim was to get rid of Saddam Hussein’s support of terrorism and eventually free the citizens of Iraq. This is how the Navy SEALs mission began. While this mission was led by the US it also had the backing of Britain, Poland as well as Australia.

The fated day

On March 20th in the year 2003 at around 2:30 UTC, a series of explosions were heard from Baghdad. It has only recently been found that these explosions were a result of the group of special forces such as British SAS, US Delta Force, US Navy SEALs, Australian 4RAR as well as SASR etc. It has recently been proven that these troops headed straight for Baghdad even before the air war had started.

The Shock and Awe technique

In military parlance this term is commonly used to refer to the use of overwhelming force, dominant maneuvers and power displays to cripple the enemy’s power to fight. In order to accomplish victory as soon as possible the US strategy in Iraq involved the simultaneous usage of ground and air attacks to immobilize the Iraqi forces. Thus while the US army was attacking, the US Navy SEALs were also assaulting the forces in Iraq. Many Iraqi military units were bypassed successfully as part of the Navy SEALs operation.

Crippling the center

The idea behind the strategy of attack in Iraq was to immobilize the center of the Iraqi command as soon as possible while also ensuring that civilian deaths and loss of infrastructure were kept to a bare minimum. It was also estimated that once the leadership of Saddam Hussein was weakened it would automatically entail crippling of the Iraqi forces. The US Navy SEALs also hoped that in this context the Iraqi native people would be open to the US instead of Saddam’s terrorist rule.

The closing

During the closing hours of March 20th there were several amphibious attacks, as well as assaults carried out simultaneously by the British 3 Commando Brigade, the Royal Marines as well as US Navy SEALs to secure oil fields in Iraq. However in the course of this Navy SEALs mission close to 44 oil wells were destroyed and exploded by accident or by explosives launched by the Iraqi forces.