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Washington, Mar 28 : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary Hillary Clinton are of the opinion that the Obama administration's decision of carrying out military action to avert a massacre in Libya is justified, adding that the operation could drag on for months or even into next year.
The duo said that the allied airstrikes had scored early successes, sealing off the skies over Libya and stopping Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces from entering the rebel stronghold city of Benghazim, The New York Times reports.
Gates also acknowledged that the unrest in Libya does not pose an immediate threat to the United States.
On being asked whether Libya was a vital interest for America, Gates denied the suggestion saying: "No, I don't think it's a vital interest for the United States, but we clearly have interests there, and it's a part of a region which is a vital interest for the United States."
Clinton further said that the issue was rather a "vital" interest to the United States' allies in Europe.
"Let's be fair here. They didn't attack us, but what they were doing and Qaddafi's history and the potential for the disruption and instability was very much in our interests, as Bob said, and seen by our European friends and our Arab friends as very vital to their interests," she said.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama, who has contradicted Gates and Clinton by saying that intervening in Libya was "in our national interest," has been urged to clarify the issue.
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