Defense Secretary Robert Gates told NBC’s Meet the Press this morning that Libya is not a “vital interest” for the United States. “But we clearly have interests there,” he said. “It is a part of the region which is a vital interest for the United States.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, had her own spin. “Let’s be fair here,” she said. “They did not attack us, but what they were doing, and Qaddafi’s history, and the potential for the disruption and instability was very much in our interests.” The mission, she added, “is seen by our European friends and our Arab partners as very vital to their interests.”