US has said its Libya policy was working and moving towards achieving its goal, ahead of a scheduled vote today in the Republican-majority House of Representatives on resolutions critical of America's operations in the North African state.
"From our vantage point, there is pretty unified support in Congress for a policy that calls for the Gaddhafi regime to remove itself from power, and we have seen in the actions that this administration has taken enormous amount of progress towards that end," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news conference.
Carney said the mission (in Libya) has been "enormously successful" and it had done what UN Security Council Resolution 1973 insisted that it does, which is provide for security and protection of civilians against attack by the Gaddhafi regime.
"It has saved the people of Benghazi; it has made considerable strides in protecting Misurata and other areas of the country. And we have seen the opposition make progress in its efforts against the Gaddhafi regime.
"We have also seen, notably, numerous defections from the regime, another indication that the policies of this administration and our partners and allies are working. Just yesterday the oil minister defected from the regime; this is highly significant," he said, adding that US believes the policy "is working" and the goal the President (Obama) has is shared by a vast majority of members of Congress.