20110425
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Military deadlock in Libya has exposed growing international rifts, with critics of NATO bombing calling it another case of the West trying to overthrow a regime by stretching the terms of a U.N. resolution.

"Is there a lack of such crooked regimes in the world?" Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin asked on Tuesday. "Are we going to bomb everywhere and conduct missile strikes?"

And a senior African Union official accused Western nations of undermining an AU peace plan that would not require the departure from power of Muammar Gaddafi.

British and U.S. officials met on Tuesday to discuss how to step up military pressure on Gaddafi, as the Libyan leader's army fought fierce clashes with rebels in besieged Misrata.

More than a month of air strikes in a British and French-led NATO mission have failed to dislodge Gaddafi or bring major gains for anti-government rebels who hold much of east Libya.

Warplanes flattened a building in Gaddafi's compound on Monday in what his officials called an assassination attempt. NATO denies trying to kill him.

British Defence Secretary Liam Fox and Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff General David Richards met U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington.

After the Washington talks, Gates said the coalition was not targeting Gaddafi specifically. Fox said there had been some "momentum" in the Libyan conflict in recent days.