Pentagon Admits Limited Military Personnel Now On the Ground in Libya

WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) -- President Obama has repeatedly pledged that American military members will not be on the ground in Libya. Despite this promise, for the second time the government is admitting having personnel on the ground. Fox News has more about this former pledge:

From the East Room of the White House on March 18, [Obama] said: "The United States is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya."

Several days later at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., he said: "I said that America's role would be limited, that we would not put ground troops into Libya, that we would focus our unique capabilities on the front end of the operation and that we would transfer responsibility to our allies and partners. Tonight, we are fulfilling that pledge."

But, alas, the circumstances and the decisions surrounding them have changed.

The Pentagon says it has four troops in the war-torn nation. Spokesman Capt. John Kirby confirmed that there are troops working there to assist in the rebuilding of the U.S. Embassy. According to Fox News, these unidentified individuals are working with the State Department's chief of mission to determine how best to reopen the embassy.

The building, located in Tripoli, was badly damaged during the ongoing battle between Muammar Qaddafi's forces and the citizens who have become known as the "rebels."

On Monday, Kirby said the four include two who specialize in disposing of explosives. He says the four are not there in any offensive or defensive military capacity, but strictly to help the State Department.

The first time that there was an admission of troops being sent for on-the-ground work was back in March when Marines rescued an Air Force pilot who had ejected over eastern Libya: