Open Letter To 44 to Take Action to Halt Violence in Libya

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC

February 25, 2011

Dear Mr. President:

In your 2009 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, you rightly declared that “Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later.”  Today the United States and our allies in Europe must take action in response to the unfolding crisis in Libya.  With violence spiraling to new heights, and with the apparent willingness of the Qaddafi regime to use all weapons at its disposal against the Libyan people, we may be on the threshold of a moral and humanitarian catastrophe. 

Inaction, or slow and inadequate measures, may not only fail to stop the slaughter in Libya but will cast doubt on the commitment of the United States and Europe to basic principles of human rights and freedoms.  Therefore, we recommend the United States, in conjunction with NATO allies, take the following specific actions immediately:

1)  The United States should call upon NATO to develop operational plans to urgently:

• Establish a presence in Libyan airspace to prevent the continued use of fighter jets and helicopter gunships against civilians and carry out other missions as required.
• Move naval assets into Libyan waters to aid in evacuation efforts and prepare for possible contingencies. Establish the capability to disable Libyan naval vessels used to attack civilians.

2)  Freeze all Libyan government assets in the United States and Europe.

3)  Consider temporarily halting importation of Libyan oil to the United States and Europe.

4)  Make a clear statement that Col. Qaddafi and other officials who order and participate in massacres of civilians will be held accountable for their crimes under international law.

5)  Provide humanitarian aid to the Libyan people as quickly as possible.

The United States and our European allies have a moral interest in both an end to the violence and an end to the murderous Libyan regime.  There is no time for delay and indecisiveness.  The people of Libya, the people of the Middle East, and the world require clear U.S. leadership in this time of opportunity and peril.

Sincerely,

Elliott Abrams	Neil Hicks	John Podhoretz
Stephen E. Biegun	William Inboden	Randy Scheunemann
Max Boot	Bruce Pitcairn Jackson	Dan Senor
Ellen Bork	Ash Jain	John Shattuck
Scott Carpenter	Robert Kagan	Mike Singh
Eliot Cohen	David Kramer	Gare Smith
Seth Cropsey	Irina Krasovskaya	William Taft
Larry Diamond	William Kristol	Marc Thiessen
Thomas Donnelly	Tod Lindberg	Daniel Twining
Michelle Dunne	Michael Makovsky	Pete Wehner
Eric Edelman	Cliff May	Ken Weinstein
Peter Feaver	Courtney Messerschmidt	Leon Wieseltier
Jamie Fly	Joshua Muravchik	Damon Wilson
Reuel Marc Gerecht	Martin Peretz	Jennifer Windsor
John Hannah	Danielle Pletka	Paul Wolfowitz

Pic - "Foreign Policy Initiatives"