Updated at 2:40 p.m. ET 
 
 President Obama today strongly condemned Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi for his violent crackdown against protesters in the country and said the United States is considering a full range of options -- including military options -- to respond to the crisis there. 
 
 "Colonel Qaddafi needs to step down from power," the president said in a joint press conference at the White House with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. "You've seen with great clarity that he has lost legitimacy with his people." 
 
 The United States, as it monitors the continuing pro-democracy protests across the Middle East and North Africa, stands for freedom and democracy, and will not stand for violence against citizens, Mr. Obama said. 
 
 However, he said, during the anti-government protests in Libya, "you've seen violence against citizens and the act of urging of violence against unarmed citizens by Qaddafi." 
 
 Complete Coverage: Anger in the Arab World 
 
 Those close to the Libyan leader "have to understand that violence they perpetrate against civilians will be monitored, and they will be held accountable for it," Mr. Obama said. "They should know history is moving against Colonel Qaddafi." 
 
 The president said he has instructed the Defense Department and the State Department to "examine a full range of options" to respond to the ongoing crisis there. 
 
 "I don't want us hamstrung," he said. "I want us making our decisions based on what's best for the Libyan people and the international community." 
 
 While there has been talk of establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, both Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday that it would be a large endeavor. "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses," Gates told Congress. Clinton said the administration is a "long way" from making a decision about a no-fly zone. 
 
 President Obama makes an opening statement during his joint news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. / AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. Obama said today he approved the use of military aircraft to help move Egyptians in Libya who have fled to the Tunisian border back to Egypt. He also instructed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to charter additional aircraft to help civilians there find their way home. 
 
 The tens of thousands of people at the border is "the biggest problem we have right now," Mr. Obama said. 
 
 However, he said there is a danger that the crisis in Libya could lead to a bloody stalemate. The U.S. must ensure, the president said, it has "full capacity to act potentially rapidly if the situation deteriorated in such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands." 
 
 With that in mind, Mr. Obama said the U.S. is considering "a whole range of options, military and nonmilitary," for responding to the events in Libya. 
 
 "We will continue to send the clear message that it's time for Qaddafi to go," he said. 
 
 Still, the president added, "I think it's very important for us to [respond] in consultation with the international community." 
 
 One of the successes of the Egyptian protests was the full ownership that Egyptians took for the developments there, he said, which served both Egyptians and Americans well. 
 
 "They felt that we hadn't tried to engineer or impose a particular outcome," he said. "The same is happening in Tunisia. I think the region will be watching carefully to make sure we are on the right side of history." 
 
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 Obama: Mexico has "full partner" in drug wars ||||| BRUSSELS — Resolving internal divisions, NATO prepared on Friday to assume leadership from the United States of the military campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces as allied officials scrambled to work out the precise command arrangements, senior NATO and American officials said. 
 
 The agreement came as President Obama, facing criticism from his political opponents, began trying to seize control of his message about the Libyan conflict. On Friday, he defended his handling of the Libya crisis in a White House meeting and conference call with more than 20 Democrat and Republican Congressional leaders. 
 
 The White House also announced that he would give a speech to the nation on Libya on Monday night. And his two top foreign policy advisers — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates — prepared to appear on the Sunday talk shows to explain the administration’s Libya policy. 
 
 Mr. Obama has come under criticism from Republicans in Congress for failing to provide a coherent explanation of the operation, which is in its seventh day. Administration officials portray it as an already successful effort to prevent the Libyan leader from attacking his own people. But the military campaign has been dogged by friction over its ultimate mission, and which of the disparate countries involved should command the operation. 
 
 The allied effort won rare military commitments in the Arab world on Friday when two Qatari fighter jets flew on patrol with the Western allies and the United Arab Emirates said that it would send warplanes to join them. 
 
 NATO had agreed late Thursday that it would take over not only command and control of the no-fly zone, but also the much riskier campaign to protect civilians through aggressive coalition airstrikes on Colonel Qaddafi’s troops on the ground, the officials said. Details of the second part of the operation will be worked out in a formal military planning document in time for a meeting of coalition foreign ministers in London on Tuesday, the officials said. 
 
 “It’s been handed over to military planners,” Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said on Friday. 
 
 As the air campaign entered its seventh day, allied warplanes and Tomahawk cruise missiles pounded Libyan air defenses, communications posts and troops. At the Pentagon, Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, the director of the joint staff, said that the airstrikes were making it harder for Colonel Qaddafi to supply and communicate with his troops, but that they had not yet seriously weakened the Libyan military forces or pushed them to heed the Americans’ call to defy their leader. 
 
 In an apparent bid to bolster the loyalty of Colonel Qaddafi’s armed forces, Libyan state television said Friday without details that the military would promote all its officers, implying a raise in pay. A government spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, said that similar raises were carried out during earlier crises, like Colonel Qaddafi’s failed war with Chad in the late 1980s. 
 
 The London meeting of coalition foreign ministers and subsequent meetings will deal with the larger political campaign, including sanctions and other measures intended to put more pressure on Colonel Qaddafi to quit. It will also have representation from the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union. But that meeting of what the British are calling “the contact group” will not be running the military side of the operation, the officials said. 
 
 Left unresolved, of course, is how long the campaign will last, because Colonel Qaddafi shows no sign of obeying the United Nations Security Council resolution demanding a cease-fire and refuses to pull his troops back to barracks. At the same time, the ragtag opposition may not be strong enough, even with the coalition’s air power, to force the colonel from his redoubt in Tripoli. 
 
 NATO officials said Friday they thought the no-fly zone would last about three months, but Pentagon officials privately expressed fears that it could last much longer. 
 
 A sticking point in the negotiations to broadening NATO’s control was what military officials call the “no-drive zone,” the bombing of Colonel Qaddafi’s ground forces, tanks and artillery outside Libyan cities. France wanted to have a clearer leadership role in the campaign, while Turkey was concerned about the operation’s evolving into one involving ground troops. Many countries, like Italy and Norway, however, said they would participate only if NATO ran the entire military operation. ||||| The House has turned back a Republican-led effort to cut off money for military hostilities in the Libyan war. 
 
 In this photo taken on a government-organized tour head scarves are on sale as a street wendor holds Moammar Gadhafi's portrait at the Green Square in downtown Tripoli, Libya, on Thursday, June 23, 2011.... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama is photographed with soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, many of whom have just returned from Afghanistan, Thursday, June 23, 2011, in Fort Drum, N.Y. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) 
 
 The vote was 238-180. It came after the House had overwhelmingly rejected a largely symbolic measure to give President Barack Obama the authority to continue U.S. involvement in the military operation against Moammar Gadhafi's forces. 
 
 The funding measure would have barred drone attacks and airstrikes but allowed the United States to continue actions in support of NATO. 
 
 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. 
 
 The House on Friday overwhelmingly rejected a measure giving President Barack Obama the authority to continue the U.S. military operation against Libya, a major repudiation of the commander in chief. 
 
 The vote was 295-123, with Obama losing the support of 70 of his Democrats one day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a last-minute plea for the mission. 
 
 While the congressional action has no immediate effect on American involvement in the NATO-led mission, it was an embarrassment to a sitting president and certain to have reverberations in Tripoli and NATO capitals. 
 
 The vote marked the first time since 1999 that either House has voted against a president's authority to carry out a military operation. The last time was to limit President Bill Clinton's authority to use ground forces in Kosovo. 
 
 The House planned a second vote on legislation to cut off money for the military hostilities in the operation. 
 
 House Republican leaders pushed for the vote, with rank-and-file members saying the president broke the law by failing to seek congressional approval for the 3-month-old war. 
 
 Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he supported the president's authority as commander in chief. "But when the president chooses to challenge the powers of the Congress, I as speaker of the House will defend the constitutional authority of the legislature," he said. 
 
 Some Democrats accused the GOP of playing politics with national security. They said the vote would send the wrong message to Gadhafi. 
 
 Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the vote would essentially "stop the mission in Libya and empower Moammar Gadhafi." 
 
 Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, White House spokesman Jay Carney expressed disappointment. 
 
 "We think now is not the time to send the kind of mixed message that it sends when we're working with our allies to achieve the goals that we believe that are widely shared in Congress: protecting civilians in Libya, enforcing a no-fly zone, enforcing an arms embargo and further putting pressure on Gadhafi," Carney said. "The writing's on the wall for Colonel Gadhafi and now is not the time to let up." 
 
 Carney also dismissed the action as just one House vote. 
 
 The defeated resolution mirrors a Senate measure sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., that Obama has indicated he would welcome. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the resolution on Tuesday. 
 
 The second vote to eliminate money for the Libya operation would make an exception for search and rescue efforts, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, aerial refueling and operational planning to continue the NATO effort in Libya. That measure has no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. 
 
 House Republicans and Democrats are furious with Obama for failing to seek congressional authorization as required under the War Powers Resolution. The 1973 law, often ignored by Republican and Democratic presidents, says the commander in chief must seek congressional consent for military actions within 60 days. That deadline has long passed. 
 
 Obama stirred congressional unrest last week when he told lawmakers he didn't need authorization because the operation was not full-blown hostilities. NATO commands the Libya operation, but the United States still plays a significant support role that includes aerial refueling of warplanes and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work as well as drone attacks and bombings. 
 
 A New York Times report that said Obama overruled some of his legal advisers further incensed members of Congress. 
 
 In a last-ditch effort Thursday, Clinton met with rank-and-file Democrats to explain the mission and discuss the implications if the House votes to cut off funds. The administration requested the closed-door meeting. 
 
 Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., said Clinton apologized for not coming to Congress earlier. But he said she warned about the implications of a House vote to cut off money. 
 
 "The secretary expressed her deep concern that you're probably not on the right track when Gadhafi supports your efforts," Walz said. 
 
 Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said such a vote "ensures the failure of the whole mission." 
 
 Earlier this week Clinton said lawmakers were free to raise questions, but she asked, "Are you on Gadhafi's side, or are you on the side of the aspirations of the Libyan people and the international coalition that has been bringing them support?" 
 
 In the Senate, backers of a resolution to authorize the operation wondered whether the administration had waited too long to address the concerns of House members. 
 
 "It's way late," said McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee. "This is one of the reasons why they're having this veritable uprising in the House, because of a lack of communication. And then the icing on the cake was probably for them when he (Obama) said that we're not engaged in hostilities. That obviously is foolishness." 
 
 He added, however, "That is not a reason to pass a resolution that would encourage Moammar Gadhafi to stay in power." 
 
 Earlier this month, the House voted 268-145 to rebuke Obama for failing to provide a "compelling rationale" for the Libyan mission and for launching U.S. military forces without congressional approval. ||||| President Barack Obama told congressional leaders there are no plans to use the U.S. military to assassinate Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi — despite the administration’s policy of seeking regime change in the North African country — according to sources familiar with a Friday White House Situation Room briefing. 
 
 “There was a discussion of how we have other ways of regime change,” Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee told POLITICO. “It’s not our role to do anything at this point from a kinetic point of view. It is our goal for regime change, but we’re not going to do it from a kinetic point of view.” 
 
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 Another source briefed on the one-hour meeting confirmed that account. 
 
 “It’s not just military efforts that can force his removal,” the source said. 
 
 The hastily arranged briefing came amid fierce criticism from Capitol Hill of the president’s decision to strike Libya’s defenses. The stakes of Obama’s communication effort with leading lawmakers on foreign policy are high because liberals, conservatives and some moderates have questioned his strategy, the costs of the engagement and the appropriateness of deploying U.S. forces without the consent of Congress. 
 
 The president, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, were among the administration officials briefing lawmakers involved in the Friday meeting and conference call. 
 
 In addition to Ruppersberger, who was in the meeting, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) the Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking Republican Richard Lugar (Ind.), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and the chairwoman and ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.) were either in attendance or on the call. 
 
 The top lawmakers on the Appropriations committees were also on the call, including Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), as well as Reps. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Intelligence Committee, also participated in the briefing. 
 
 Obama is already dealing with a skeptical congressional audience, and clearly wanted to get out in front of the controversy before Congress returns next week.
– President Obama has said Moammar Gadhafi should go, but he apparently doesn't mean it in the most extreme sense. The president told congressional lawmakers today that the military isn't out to assassinate the Libyan leader, reports Politico. “There was a discussion of how we have other ways of regime change,” said one attendee of the briefing, Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, who couldn't resist using the new buzz word: “It’s not our role to do anything at this point from a kinetic point of view." (Click for more on that "kinetic" thing.) Hillary Clinton and top Pentagon officials joined Obama in the meeting and conference call, which included top lawmakers such as John Boehner, Eric Cantor, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi. In another development, NATO is expected to take over all military operations—not just the no-fly zone—in a matter of days, reports the BBC. Meanwhile, the allies got help from the Arab world, notes the New York Times. A Qatari jet flew a patrol today, and the United Arab Emirates said it would soon send warplanes to do the same. The president is expected to make a speech on the mission Monday evening.