Obama to say Libya action averted \'catastrophe\'

Obama will explain to his war-weary nation why he decided to deploy US air power to set up a no-fly zone over Libya and defend civilians from a bloodbath threatened by Moamer Kadhafi, in the address scheduled for 7:30 pm (2330 GMT).

The pre-prime time speech will counter critics who assailed Obama for failed leadership early in the crisis, raised questions over US goals in the conflict and complained he did not sufficiently consult lawmakers on the air assault.

"The president will update the American people on our efforts in Libya -- including the mission our men and women in uniform are bravely executing," a US official said on condition of anonymity.

Obama will also discuss the handover of the mission\'s command and control responsibility to NATO, an ongoing maneuver which will see Washington, publicly at least, adopt a support role while its allies patrol Libyan skies.

"He will discuss how our efforts in Libya have advanced our interests and averted a catastrophe," the official said, adding that Obama would also talk about US policy "going forward."

Obama has been criticized in Washington for failing to make a formal address on why the United States is engaged in Libya, though he did speak about the operation in media appearances last week and in his radio address Saturday.

Officials, conscious that a bedrock principle of Obama\'s administration is to get US troops home from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, have shied away from describing the Libyan operation as a "war."

That rationale has also underpinned their insistence that Obama did not need to seek authorization to act from Congress, under the US Constitution, the sole branch of government with the formal power to declare war.

They have also argued that time spent in a prolonged debate on Capitol Hill about the operation would have condemned untold numbers of Libyan civilians to death at the hands of Kadhafi\'s forces.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the case on the ABC show "This Week" on Sunday.

"Imagine we were sitting here and Benghazi had been overrun, a city of 700,000 people, and tens of thousands of people had been slaughtered, hundreds of thousands had fled... either with nowhere to go or overwhelming Egypt while it\'s in its own difficult transition," she said.

"The cries would be, \'why did the United States not do anything?

"How could you stand by when, you know, France, and the United Kingdom, and other Europeans, and the Arab League, and your Arab partners were saying, \'You\'ve got to do something?\'"

Some pressure on the administration will have be relieved by the rapid advances over the weekend by Libyan rebels enabled by coalition air strikes on Kadhafi forces.

But Obama will also have to answer worries that the international action in Libya has resulted in an intervention in a civil war with an uncertain outcome.

In his address from the National Defense University in Washington, Obama will also seek to communicate his strategy to an audience outside the United States, including Middle Eastern populations caught in the throes of revolt.

He may send subtle messages to US allies in Europe and the Arab world. Particularly in Europe, impatience with the administration\'s initial reluctance to rush to set up a no fly zone has been reflected in local media.

On Tuesday, Obama, who been criticized since military action began nine days ago for not getting his message across, will also give interviews on Tuesday with the anchors of three US television networks, the White House said.

Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will also brief lawmakers to press home the administration\'s hard-sell defense of its policy this week.

Obama\'s position was made easier Sunday when NATO ambassadors agreed in Brussels to take command of all Libyan operations, but the United States was still clearly bearing the brunt of the military burden.

The United States and its allies are hopeful that Kadhafi\'s regime will eventually crack and dread a long drawn-out conflict that could test the political will of their patchwork coalition.

US public support for the conflict is lukewarm: a March 22 Gallup poll showed that 47 percent of Americans surveyed approve of action against Libya, less than for most US military campaigns over the past four decades.

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