US president Barack Obama today strongly defended his decision to intervene in Libya, saying he consulted with Congress and operated within legal guidelines in approving a narrow, UN-mandated mission.
"We have carried out that narrow mission in exemplary fashion," Mr Obama said in a televised news conference, saying that congressional critics of the Libya campaign were using the issue for political gain.
"A lot of this fuss is politics," Mr Obama said.
"We have engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world," he said, referring to Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy.
"We should be sending out a unified message to this guy that he should step down and give his people a fair chance to live their lives without fear."
The House of Representatives defeated a move last week to curb US intervention in Libya but also delivered a symbolic rebuke to Mr Obama by refusing another measure to formally authorize US participation in the Nato-led Libya mission.
A similar authorization measure passed a Senate committee this week but faces an uncertain future in the full Senate.
The twin House votes starkly highlighted the ambivalence on Capitol Hill over US involvement in Libya's civil war. Some lawmakers argue that Mr Obama violated the 1973 War Powers Resolution by failing to secure congressional authorization after 60 days of hostilities, an argument the White House rejects.
Mr Obama did not address reports that some of his administration's lawyers, at the Pentagon and Justice Department, dissented from the White House view that the Libya operation did not constitute "hostilities" under the War Powers Resolution.
Mr Obama said he had consulted fully with Congress before approving the mission in March but was not required to secure authorization.
"I think that such consultation is entirely appropriate. But do I think that our actions in any way violate the War Powers Resolution? The answer is no."
Mr Obama stressed that the United States plays a supporting role in the Libya operation, underscoring that no US troops had been dispatched to Libya, there have been no US casualties, and that the operation remained limited in time and in scope.
He also said that Col Gadafy was "pinned down and the noose is tightening around him."
"He needs to step down. He needs to go," Mr Obama said.
Reuters