Admiral Admits NATO Is Trying to Kill Qaddafi

Foreign Policy says U.N. authorization is being interpreted as allowing dictator's killing

During a briefing last month, House Armed Forces Committee member Rep. Mike Turner says that Admiral Samuel Locklear, who commands the NATO Joint Operations Command in Naples, Italy, admitted that NATO is trying to kill Muammar Qaddafi as part of its mission, Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin reports. Despite the White House's insistence that it's goal is not "regime change," Turner said Locklear described his mission this way:

"The U.N. authorization had three components: blockade, no fly zone, and civil protection. And Admiral Locklear explained that the scope of civil protection was being interpreted to permit the removal of the chain of command of Qaddafi's military, which includes Qaddafi," Turner said. "He said that currently is the mission as NATO has defined."