Gates Says U.S. Will Not Have Top Role in Libya

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Sunday that the U.S. will not have the top role in military action Libya and is expecting that other nations in the coalition will take the lead, although the U.S. will continue to provide some military support.

We will have a military role in the coalition, but we will not have the preeminent role, Gates told reporters at a briefing in Washington on Sunday.

And the president was very - felt strongly, I would say, about limiting the scale of U.S. military involvement in this. He's more aware than almost anybody on the stress on our military.

The comments came three days into British, French, and U.S. bomb attacks in on targets in Libya, using missiles launched from submarines and from jet fighters.

The countries are implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1973 - which calls for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to stop attacking civilians and authorizes military action to protect them, while also calling effort to enforce a United Nations resolution to protect civilians against forces led by Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi.

That has included the establishment of a no-fly zone, which would prevent Libyan army planes from taking off.

House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said the Obama Administration had to do a better job of explaining the United States' role in Libya as Britain, France and the U.S. bomb targets in an effort to establish a no-fly zone to protect civilians.

Before any further military commitments are made the Administration must do a better job of communicating to the American people and to Congress about our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved, Boehner said in a statement on Sunday.

He said the administration had the responsibility to define for the American people, the Congress, and our troops what the mission in Libya is, better explain what America's role is in achieving that mission, and make clear how it will be accomplished, he said.