Report: 100 Days In, NATO Lacks Firepower To Topple Gaddafi?

From the UK’s Daily Telegraph:

The Western alliance marks 100 days of bombing Libya on Sunday with political leaders adamant that the regime, which violently crushed a popular uprising in February, is isolated and collapsing from within.

However defence analysts said it has still not identified a clear line of attack that would break the veteran leader’s grip on power.

“This campaign is about inflicting pain on the regime but there is no precedent where air power alone has taken a government down without encircling the city,” said Shashank Joshi, of the Royal United Services Institute.

The Gaddafi regime has shown an ability to overcome setbacks and take advantage of gaps in the coalition air strikes. Re-engineered Grad missiles with a longer range have struck central Misurata – killing two women and a boy – more than a month after the siege of the port was broken.

Residents thought that the weeks of sustained bombardment they endured was over when rebels drove regime troops at least 20 miles beyond the city outskirts, where the front lines have since remained.”

The full story is here.