Obama might intervene military in Libya

President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military "full capacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation there deteriorates, the Washington Post reports.

"What I've instructed the Department of Defense as well as our State Department and all those involved in international affairs to examine is a full range of options," Obama said the CNN reports. "I don't want us hamstrung. I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community."

The conflict in Libya could become a bloody stalemate, Obama said, adding that he wanted to ensure that "the United States has full capacity to act, potentially rapidly, if the situation deteriorated in a such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands or a situation in which civilians were -- defenseless civilians -- were finding themselves trapped and in grave danger."