When Obama Said He Would Not Be Sending Ground Troops Into Libya He Meant That He Might Be Sending Ground Troops Into Libya

Remember way back when (about two weeks ago) President Obama said the U.S. is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya ?

I also want to be clear about what we will not be doing. The United States is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya. And we are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal — specifically, the protection of civilians in Libya. In the coming weeks, we will continue to help the Libyan people with humanitarian and economic assistance so that they can fulfill their aspirations peacefully.

What he meant is that we might be sending ground troops into Libya :

The United States may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels, according to the general who led the military mission until NATO took over.

Army Gen. Carter Ham also told lawmakers Thursday that added American participation would not be ideal, and ground troops could erode the international coalition and make it more difficult to get Arab support for operations in Libya.

Ham said the operation was largely stalemated now and was more likely to remain that way since America has transferred control to NATO.

Now its possible that Obama’s commander of Libya operations was watching Dancing With The Stars instead of Obama’s Libya speech and he simply isn’t aware that the president will not, under any circumstance, send ground troops into the country. But I suspect the administration is floating a trial balloon to see how Congress and the American people respond to the suggestion.

(Via: Outside the Beltway )