I LOVE IT – AT 10:12 P.M. ET:  Don't you love to be needed?  What a wonderful feeling.  And nations love to be needed, including ours.  And it's oh so nice to be needed by those countries whose elites have sniped at us for sport all these years.  So, we're needed again:

NATO has asked the United States to continue participating in airstrikes over Libya through late Monday, ABC News has learned.

This is after we announced that we were ending strikes on Saturday.

This was done to make up for the bad weather earlier in the week that had hampered targeting of Gadhafi forces and allowed them to push the rebels back to Ajdabiyah.

The United States was supposed to have significantly begun dropping its participation in airstrikes over Libya.

"Due to poor weather conditions over the last few days in Libya, the United States has approved a request by NATO to extend the use of some U.S. strike aircraft," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told ABC News. "These aircraft will continue to conduct and support Alliance air-to-ground missions throughout this weekend."

A U.S. Defense Department official said the aircraft Lungescu was referring to are the A-10 Thunderbolt jets, Marine AV-8 Harrier jets and AC-130 gunships, which are the best suited for striking ground force targets.

The fact is that we're indispensable.  Unlike some European countries, the United States invested appropriately in national defense, especially in the Reagan years.  Therefore, we have forces and equipment in being that can do the job.  Let's see if we get any thanks.  Don't hold your breath.

Still, the Libyan "mission" seems to be "mission undefinable."  What is our actual objective?  And now, with a stalemate brewing, what will we do?

Stay tuned.  This Saturday morning serial will continue.

April 3, 2011