ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> STORY: U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States would be a partner to Libya following the death of Muammar Gaddafi and said the NATO mission in the North African country would "soon come to an end."<br/> "This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya," he told reporters in the White House Rose Garden.<br/> Obama also said the death of Gaddafi, as reported by Libyan authorities, was significant in the Arab world where protests have provoked the fall of long-standing dictators. "The rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end," he said.
