Open Thread & News Round-Up: Libya

Here's some of what I've been reading this morning. Please feel welcome and encouraged to leave additional links in comments. The same commenting guidelines are still in effect.

The Guardian's live blog is here.

Al Jazeera's live blog is here.

CNN's live blog is here.

New York Times—Air Strikes in Libya Continue as NATO Starts Sea Patrols: "Amid differences among allies about how to manage the five-day-old military campaign in Libya, air strikes continued to rock Tripoli early on Wednesday while some units loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi were reported to have ceased firing on a key rebel-held city after allied airplanes attacked loyalist tanks and artillery. At sea, news reports said six NATO warships started patrolling off Libya's coast Wednesday to enforce a United Nations arms embargo, but Germany, which has opposed military intervention in the Libya crisis, said it was withdrawing four of its ships in the Mediterranean from NATO command."

McClatchy—A new uncertainty in Libya operation: Who's in charge?: "The fragile international coalition supporting military action in Libya showed fresh signs of strain Monday, as the U.S., Europe and Arab nations wrestled with the issue of who will take charge of military operations if the U.S. gives up control in the days ahead."

The Hill—White House denies regime change is part of Libya mission:

The White House strongly denied Tuesday that regime change is part of its mission in Libya, despite a statement earlier in the day that characterized the goal there as "installing a democratic system."

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, issued a statement acknowledging that President Obama would like to see a democratic government in Libya, but explained that the aim of the U.S. military's intervention there is not to enact regime change.

"We're clarifying, as we've said repeatedly, that the effort of our military operation is not regime change, that as we actually say in this readout, it's the Libyan people who are going to make their determinations about the future," Rhodes said. "We support their aspirations, their democratic aspirations, and have stated that Gadhafi should go because he's lost their confidence."

That is one carefully threaded needle.