Obama Trims Trip to Head Back to White House

President Obama is heading back to Washington a little earlier than originally planned, from a trip to South America.

He's skipping a tour of the Mayan ruins in El Salvador and will instead hold a conference call on Libya with his National Security Team.

Official White House Photo/Pete Souza.

Over the past five days, Obama has visited Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador. He's kept most of his schedule as planned. But he's been spending some time on those secure phone lines giving the go-ahead for Libya, and monitoring the crash Monday of a U.S. fighter jet.

He appeared yesterday with Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes. During a joint press conference, President Obama said the U.S. involvement in Libya will last "days not weeks," noting, "there is no military operation that does not entail risk."

The President spoke by phone with Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom and President Sarkozy of France. He said "I would expect that over the next several days you will have clarity and a meeting of the minds of all those who are participating in the process."

He said the US's involvement in Libya has saved lives.

"I just want to emphasize to the American people, because of the extraordinary capabilities and valor of our men and women in uniform we have already saved lives."

Obama also said, "Qaddafi’s forces have pulled back because of this timely intervention."

Numbers for the financial price tag for the operation in Libya are trickling in, and so far, it looks like the no-fly zone in Libya is costing hundreds of millions of dollars. And that price tag could go up if it drags on for weeks and months.