Leader says his country will not be dragged into another Iraq war

NEW YORK - US President Barack Obama tried to answer to mounting international and domestic criticism on his country's military involvement in Libya during a 27-minute nationally televised speech on Monday evening.

Obama defended the first war launched on his watch by claiming US "strategic interest" in the area, but ruled out the coalition's target of forcing Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to step down, warning that trying to oust him militarily would be a costly mistake.

He assured that the country would not get dragged into another Iraq war by playing a "supporting role", yet failed to offer any estimate on when the conflict might end or give any details on its costs.

Richard Myers, former US chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, doubted that the United States can keep a limited role, as US involvement in the past has often "escalated".

John McCain, US senator from Arizona and Republican nominee for president in the 2008 election, said in a CNN interview that Obama's comments were "in some degree counter to the president's statement that Gadhafi must go."

Younes Abouyoub, a research scholar of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University in New York, said: "He (Obama) is just stating what he already said - no long-term engagement, no ground troops. It was all expected."

Obama said the burden of action should not be "America's alone", and allies and partners should "bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs".

Washington's allies may not be happy with these words, said Yuan Peng, an expert on US studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Yuan quoted Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, as saying the operation in Libya is "not too much, not too little, not too unilateral, not too American".

"Trying to clear up the controversies by choosing a middle way could easily fail both sides' expectations," he said.

"The murky policy Obama is pursuing reveals the paradox of US hegemony - it has to maintain it - but the cost keeps rising until one day the country cannot afford it anymore."

Richard Harknett, an associate professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, said if US forces reassume control of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, the debate in the US could become more problematic. "It appears that the president was faced with an immediate decision over a massacre that was very difficult and made it without a fully developed strategy beyond that immediate goal of preventing civilian deaths," he added.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

China Daily