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Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

More dueling quotes about Libya: France’s Juppé vs. America’s Gates on the timeline for the air campaign

French foreign minister Alain Juppé to reporters in Paris on Thursday: "The destruction of Qaddafi’s military capacity is a matter of days or weeks, certainly not months." American defense secretary Robert Gates to reporters in Cairo on Wednesday: "I think no one was under any illusions that this would be an operation that would last ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

French foreign minister Alain Juppé to reporters in Paris on Thursday: "The destruction of Qaddafi's military capacity is a matter of days or weeks, certainly not months."

French foreign minister Alain Juppé to reporters in Paris on Thursday: "The destruction of Qaddafi’s military capacity is a matter of days or weeks, certainly not months."

American defense secretary Robert Gates to reporters in Cairo on Wednesday: "I think no one was under any illusions that this would be an operation that would last one week or two weeks or three weeks."

This is gonna get real interesting real soon. The Americans plan to get out and say it is gonna last. The French are supposed to keep it going, but say it isn’t.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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