'US military carries big burdens around the world'

With the US forces entering the third battle ground of Libya, after Iraq and Afghanistan, and being involved in humanitarian mission in Japan, President Barack Obama acknowledged that the US military is overstretched as of now.

"Obviously our military is already very stretched and carries large burdens all around the world," Obama said in response to a question at a joint news conference with his Chilean counterpart, Sebastian Pinera.

"Whenever possible for us to be able to get international cooperation, not just in terms of words but also in terms of planes and pilots and resources, that's something that we should actively seek and embrace because it relieves the burden on our military and it relieves the burden on US taxpayers to fulfill what is an international mission and not simply a US mission," he said.

Praising the US military, Obama said, "I could not be prouder of the manner in which the US military has performed over the last several days, and it's a testament to the men and women in uniform, who, when they're given a mission, they execute and do an outstanding job".

The US is in consultations with its international partners on Libya.

"There are different phases to the campaign. The initial campaign, we took a larger role because we've got some unique capabilities; our ability to take out, for example, Gaddafi's air-defence systems are much more significant

than some of our other partners," he said.

"What that does then is it creates the space, it shapes the environment in which a no-fly zone can actually be effective. It was also important to make sure we got in there quickly so that whatever advances were being made on Benghazi could be halted and we could send a clear message to Gaddafi that he needed to start pulling his troops back," Obama said.

Observing that the operation is just two days old, Obama said the situation on the ground is continuously being evaluated.

"The core principle that has to be upheld here is that when the entire international community almost unanimously says that there is a potential humanitarian crisis about to take place, that a leader who has lost his legitimacy, decides to turn his military on his own people, that we can't simply stand by with empty words; that we have to take some sort of action," he said.

"I think it's also important to note that the way that the US took leadership and managed this process ensures international legitimacy and ensures that our partners, members of the international coalition are bearing the burden of following through on the mission as well, because as you know, in the past, there have been times where the US acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence, typically it was the US military that ended up bearing the entire burden," Obama argued.