France Takes Lead In Coalition Strikes Against Libya

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GUY RAZ, host:

And as we said, French warplanes had been taking the lead in this military campaign. President Nicholas Sarkozy spoke in Paris earlier today.

President NICHOLAS SARKOZY (France): (Through translator) As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town. As of now, other French aircraft are ready to intervene against tanks, armored vehicles threatening unarmed civilians.

RAZ: That's French President Nicholas Sarkozy today speaking through an interpreter, of course.

Eleanor Beardsley is covering the story for us from Paris.

And, Eleanor, are you there?

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: I am, Guy.

RAZ: This seems to be a different kind of role for the French taking the lead in an international military campaign, at least it appears to be at the moment.

BEARDSLEY: Yeah, that's right. You know, everyone remembers that France was one of the most strident countries against the Iraq War, you know, really campaigned against the invasion of Iraq. So it is kind of different to see them taking the lead role in the, well, it's not the invasion of Libya, but the no-fly zone enforcement over Libya.

But there seems to be - I mean, the way people are speaking, there seems to be a great pride in that. I mean, I hear people who usually don't have much good to say about Sarkozy saying how proud - they don't say proud, but they seem to be, yeah, proud of how he's diplomatically brought it together, pursue the no-fly zone. And, you know, there are - this could be a quagmire, the whole thing. I mean, who knows how it's going to end.

But right now, that doesn't seem to be the talk here. There's a lot of talk about outrage, and, you know, moral authority, and citizens being massacred. So, I mean, from Sarkozy who talks about it to the foreign minister who went on television and denied it, and they said, you know, he said, yes, there are some risks, but they're calculated, you know?

And so the French mindset at this point seems to be that, you know, obviously, the military is far superior, nothing to talk about even. But there seems to be this feeling that the risks are calculated, and they're just great moral authority to go in and protect people. And so no one has really delved into how it could go wrong yet.

RAZ: Eleanor, initially, as I mentioned, it was the French President Sarkozy who announced this campaign and announced that French planes were in the skies over Benghazi. Now, we have reports, of course, that U.S. and British warships are involved as well.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Paris for a meeting - European, U.S. and Arab leaders - to talk about the crisis there. What did Secretary Clinton have to say?

BEARDSLEY: Well, she spoke - you know, it's funny because I'm covering this and there are so many things going on everywhere. I didn't hear all of her talk. But, you know, she spoke also of the moral outrage and how there was an obligation to help the people of Libya. And she spoke strongly also about the coalition. There's a lot of emphasis on, you know, everyone coming together this time. There's not, you know, the discord there was over the Iraq invasion.

But she did also say that the U.S. would absolutely not have troops on the ground. So, you know, you have this feeling that the U.S. was going to play this supporting role. So, yeah - but it was always known that there was the fleet in the Mediterranean and that they would fire against air defenses on the coast around Tripoli. So we knew the U.S. would fire.

But it seemed to come as a surprise that it came so quickly after the French, because everyone was thinking the U.S. was really, you know, taking a quiet supportive role. But I think that that was always known.

I spoke with a defense expert. He said, yeah, I mean, even if the U.S. didn't plan to initially fly, you know, fighter jets, F-18s, over Libya, they weren't going to always, you know, use the air fleet in the Mediterranean to attack air bases on the coast around Tripoli.

RAZ: That's Eleanor Beardsley reporting from Paris for us on the situation in Libya and France's involvement. We'll be hearing more from her in the coming hours and days.

Eleanor, thank you so much.

BEARDSLEY: Thank you, Guy.

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