U.S. defense chief warns against expanding military strike goals in Libya

+Its a sad state of affairs when Sec. Gates has become the closest voice to reason in the Obama administration after losing out to more hawkish voices, namely Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and others (who aren’t shy about piling ever more hot Middle East military mess on the DoD’s plate) over whether or not to engage militarily in Libya -PR+

Xinhua, march 20, 2011

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned on Sunday that it will complicate the consensus around the UN Security Council resolution on no-fly zone over Libya if there is an attempt to expand the goals of military strikes against the North African nation.

Speaking onboard a plane enroute to Russia, the Pentagon chief made his first public comment about the air mission against Libya, saying he thinks “it’s important that we operate within the mandate of the UN Security Council resolution.”

Gates said the mission is backed by a diverse coalition, and adding additional objectives to the mission “create a problem in that respect.” He also said “it’s unwise to set as specific goals things that you may or may not be able to achieve.”

Gates said most nations in the region want to see Libya remain a unified state, and “having states in the region begin to break up because of internal differences, I think, is a formula for real instability in the future.”