Levin: Gadhafi 'on his heels,' Libyan people need to remove him

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on Sunday that Col. Moammar Gadhafi is “on his heels” and Libyan people need to take advantage of the situation and remove their dictator.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) heralded the ongoing U.S., British, and French air strikes, and bucked criticism of President Obama’s communication with the Congress, saying that he has clearly laid out the U.S.’s end game in the North African country.

“[The mission is] to prevent the slaughter of civilians in Libya and to make sure that continues with a no fly zone, which would be maintained over Libya to prevent Gadhafi from reasserting control of the air,” said Levin on CNN’s "State of the Union."

“It is a fly-over, which is succeeding. It has set Gadhafi back. He is on his heels now, moving his troops towards his capital where he’s strong."

Levin’s comments come as news agencies around the world reported on Sunday that Libyan rebels had taken control of a key city in the eastern part of the country, after a week's worth of air strikes had pummeled pro-Gadhafi troops and forced them to retreat.

Levin stressed that the U.S. would not be in charge of removing Gadhafi from his more than 40 years of power in the country, and that the U.S. military would not necessarily have to remain involved in Libya indefinitely until he ceded power or was overthrown.

“The fact that it’s going to take the people of Libya to remove their dictator with the help of economic sanctions that the world has put in place and, by the way, with a weakened Gadhafi because of the success, hopefully, of this military mission, doesn’t mean that we’re there forever. It means that there’s going to be other means which are going to be utilized,” said Levin.