"The United States of America Has Done What We Said We Would Do"

"The task that I assigned our forces–to protect the Libyan people from immediate danger, and to establish a No Fly Zone–carries with it a UN mandate and international support. It is also what the Libyan opposition asked us to do. If we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter. We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground, or risk killing many civilians from the air. The dangers faced by our men and women in uniform would be far greater. So would the costs, and our share of the responsibility for what comes next. "To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq."

The New York Times prints President Obama's speech on Libya.

And writers in The New Republic discuss the U.S. military action.