BBC News with David Legge

President Obama's top intelligence adviser says he expects Colonel Gaddafi to win his battle to stay in power. The US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, told a Senate hearing that the Libyan leader's forces had better equipment and were better trained and would probably

prevail

over the long term. Mark Mardell reports from Washington.

President Obama has said that Gaddafi should go, but now his top intelligence adviser has said the Libyan ruler will probably win his battle to stay in power. The director of national intelligence, Gen James Clapper, has told politicians on Capitol Hill that over time, in the longer term, Gaddafi will probably prevail because he has better trained and equipped troops. He added another possible

outcome

was the breakup of Libya into what he called three semi-autonomous mini states. He didn't answer questions from politicians who felt that meant imposing a no-fly zone was urgent.

Nato defence ministers have

resist

ed calls for an air exclusion zone over Libya. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has meanwhile said her main aim was to build

momentum

behind any action against Colonel Gaddafi.

"We are working to create an international consensus. You can see that there's a lot of

ambivalence

in the international community. People don't know what the opposition represents. They don't know the most effective way to try to, you know,