US says "Gaddafi's days are numbered"

As rebels advance towards Tripoli, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's days are numbered.

By REUTERS
Libya explosion 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Libya explosion 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
As Libyan rebels continue to choke off Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the capital Tripoli, the US says the Libyan leader's days are numbered.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, "I think, considering how difficult the situation has been, The fact is, the combination of NATO forces there, the combination of what the opposition is doing, the sanctions, the international pressure, the work of the Arab league that has been very helpful in moving that in the right direction and I think the sense is that Gaddafi's days are numbered."
NATO forces have been providing air power for Libyan rebels since March, despite ongoing wars and budget constraints.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attending a War College event along with Panetta sounded an optimistic note on the future.
"If you look at Libya this is a case for strategic patience, and It is easy to get impatient. But I think, when you realize this started in MArch there was no opposition there were no institutions, there was nothing, there was no address even for trying to figure out how to help people who were trying to cast off this brutal dictatorship of 42 plus years the distance they have traveled in this relatively short period of time The fact that for the first time we have a NATO-Arab alliance, you have Arab countries who are running strike actions, Arab countries who are supporting with advisers the opposition, this is exactly the kind of world that I want see," said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On the ground rebels say that they have cut off roads to Tripoli after rapid advances in the West.