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mitchell: good evening. welcome to a special western edition of the cbs evening news. president obama made his case for military intervention in libya tonight, telling the american people he did it to prevent a massacre in benghazi. he said once again that u.s. involvement would be limited, with coalition allies taking over command of the operation. chip reid is at the white house tonight with more on the president s speech. chip, good evening. reporter: good evening, russ. the president said he refused to wait for images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action in libya. when our interests and values are at stake we have a responsibility to act. reporter: president obama explained why he believes it was imperative to take military action in libya. to brush aside america s responsibility as a leader and, more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. reporter: the ....
president obama takes his case directly to the american people this evening to explain why he ordered military intervention against moammar qaddafi s forces in libya. some congressional leaders say the mission is not clearly defined and lacks an exit strategy, but the president is expected to tout its early success. before the allied air strikes began ten days ago, libyan rebels were backed up to benghazi. since then, with qaddafi s forces under attack from the air, the rebels have pushed westward taking back one city after another, nearly all the territory they had lost. they are now setting their sites on qaddafi s hometown of surt. just the same, a top u.s. military official says the rebels are not a robust fighting force and their gains may not be permanent. mandy clark is with the rebels in ras lanuf. this could be the midwest decisive battle yet in libya s civil war. in the span of just 48 hours, the ragtag army of students, laborers and some soldiers once loyal ....