While President Obama claimed the military’s mission is narrowly focused on saving lives, he did not mention that the U.S.-led air strikes have been strategically targeted to aid the Libyan rebels in their fight against forces loyal to Gaddafi. On Monday, senior U.S. military officials admitted that the Libyan rebels could be quickly overrun if the air strikes ceased. This is U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney: “Clearly the opposition is not well organized, and it is not a very robust organization. I mean, that’s obvious. So any gain that they make is tenuous, based on that. I mean, it’s — clearly they’re achieving a benefit from the actions that we’re taking. We’re not coordinating with it, but I think General Ham’s assessment is pretty good.”