CNN 2011-04-03

We thank Mrs. Long's students in Missouri for getting today's show revved 1 up and ready to go. And we thank all of you for checking out this Thursday edition of CNN Student News.

I'm Carl Azuz, and first up today, we have a report from CNN's Chris Lawrence on the conflict in Libya. The U.S. has been involved in this since March 19th, when it launched missiles at targets inside the North African country. But the military strategy is shifting.

U.S. officials say they're not in Libya to help rebels win a war.

That's not part of our mandate 2.

But the coalition 3 is launching missiles at specific units, like the headquarters of Libya's elite 4 32nd Brigade.

This is one of Gadhafi's most loyal units.

The coalition has interpreted "protect civilians 5" to mean it can destroy any weapons Gadhafi could use. Air strikes hit munitions 6 depots 7 in two cities.

Any place that we can see ammunition 8 storage facilities, things of that nature, that, we're going after those.

A mission that started with preventing attacks from the air is now focused, not even two weeks later, on destroying targets on the ground. New flying gunships like the A-10 have replaced some of the ships that were firing cruise missiles. These new aircraft fly low, closer to a target, and shoot machine gun fire instead of dropping thousand-pound bombs. They're designed to fight in and around cities, where rebels are trying to hold off Gadhafi's forces. On Tuesday, the NATO commander said that protecting civilians mandate extends all the way into Tripoli itself.

I think that any Gadhafi forces that are demonstrating hostile intent against the Libyan population are legitimate 9 targets.

So far, the assault has cost the Pentagon well over half a billion dollars. But most of that money came from cruise missiles and other munitions. The strategy has shifted, and now the U.S. forces are focused on refueling planes, jamming communication and striking Gadhafi forces. So, the military only expects to spend $40 million over the next few weeks. And a spokeswoman says, "After that, we would incur 10 added costs of about $40 million per month." How many months? It's hard to tell.

But a stalemate is not an acceptable solution.

I think a stalemate is not in anybody's interest.

Some rebel leaders in Libya are calling the battles' front lines "fluid." They made some advances, took control of some key cities. But Colonel Gadhafi's forces have pushed back. And yesterday, the rebels withdrew from some territory they had taken over before.

One strategy that coalition military leaders are considering is arming the rebels, giving them weapons. President Obama has said he's open to this idea, and some experts think it could give rebels help in fighting government forces. But there are also some concerns about this, arming the rebels. U.S. intelligence indicates that some terrorists may be fighting on the side of the rebels. So of course, officials don't want to be giving weapons to the wrong people.