NEW YORK -- US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that nobody has any idea how long the United States military could be involved in Libya, though he stressed that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces have been crippled by US-led airstrikes.
Asked whether he expects the mission to be over by the year’s end, Gates said, "I don’t think anybody knows the answer to that."
Gates discussed the intervention over the course of several interviews Sunday alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. While he declined to give any estimates for how long the United States could be involved, the two officials stressed that significant gains have been made and that NATO is taking on a much bigger role.
"We have taken out [Ghadafi’s] armor," Gates said.
Clinton said, "We’re beginning to see, because of the good work of the coalition, his troops begin to turn back toward the west -- and to see the opposition begin to reclaim the ground they had lost."
Gates said Sunday that the no-fly zone was fully in place and could be sustained with "a lot less effort than it took to set it up." He said the Pentagon was planning how to draw down resources that will be assigned to European and other countries pledging to take on a larger role.
The two Cabinet officials spoke on NBC’s "Meet the Press," CBS’s "Face the Nation," and ABC’s "This Week."
Clinton and Gates insisted that the United States’ objective in Libya was limited to protecting civilians, even as they hoped the pressure of concerted international penalties and isolation might strip away Gadhafi’s remaining loyalists and cause his government to crumble.
"One should not underestimate the possibility of the regime itself cracking," Gates said.
He said Gadhafi should not feel too comfortable after 42 years of dictatorship. "I wouldn’t be hanging any new pictures if I were him," said Gates.
Clinton added that his military and political advisers were increasingly seeking talks as they feel the international pressure.
The administration is "sending a message to the people around him," she said. "Do you want to be a pariah? Do you really want to end up in the international criminal court? Now is your time to get out of this and to help change the direction."