Obama Defends Libya Fight

President Says Massacre Prevented; Republicans Want Plan to Remove Gadhafi

 'President Barack Obama made his case for military intervention in Libya in a speech to the nation on Monday, saying the action he directed was in U.S. interests and had already succeeded in preventing a massacre of "horrific scale.''

He said the U.S. would work to remove Col. Moammar Gadhafi from power, but made clear that he would rely on political, financial and other pressures—not military force—to drive him out. That left open the central question of how Col. Gadhafi's removal would be accomplished, and how the U.S. would deal with Libya should he remain.

More broadly, Mr. Obama set out the most detailed explanation to date of a new model for how the U.S. will approach international crises, laying out what may be seen as an Obama doctrine in which the U.S. acts as a coalition-builder, spreading the costs and burdens among nations' 

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