Moammar Gadhafi, Libyan War | featured news

In a joint opinion piece to be published Friday, the leaders of the United States, Britain and France lay out in stark terms their contention that Libya's future must not include its leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

France and Britain said NATO should be doing more to pressure the Libyan regime. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the alliance should be firing on the weapons being used by Gadhafi’s troops to target civilians in Misrata.

Nato says forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are using human shields in the war-torn town of Misrata. The coalition says Col Gaddafi's troops are using civilian vehicles and hiding their heavy armour in civilian areas.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi showed no signs of backing down Saturday after officials spurned an opposition cease-fire proposal.

Col. Muammar Qaddafi has gained the upper hand on the Libyan battlefield, even as British and other Western officials maintain that his regime is "crumbling" from the inside. Benefiting from a change in tactics, Colonel Qaddafi's forces have made significant gains against rebels with more nimble units that are harder for Western allies to target by air. Rebels, now lacking the curtain of airstrikes that paved their rapid westward advance last weekend, appear to be relinquishing their determination to battle Qaddafi's forces all the way to Tripoli.

The coalition has told the rebels that they are no less subject to bombardment by NATO planes than pro-Qaddafi forces if they endanger civilians.

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S.-led military action in Libya has bolstered rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces, but the international operation could continue for months, the Obama administration says.

Libyan rebels pushed past the oil town of Brega on Sunday, moving toward the major refinery at Ras Lanuf in the second day of a counterattack aided by allied airstrikes against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces.

On Face the Nation, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that intelligence reports Moammar Gaddafi's forces are planting dead bodies to sites attacked by coalition forces.