U.S. Senate Poised to Call for Libya No-Fly Zone, Qaddafi Ouster
The U.S. Senate called for imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, unanimously approving a non-binding resolution that also endorsed U.S. outreach to forces opposing Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.
Senators Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mark Steven Kirk, an Illinois Republican, teamed on the measure, which passed today without debate or a roll-call vote. With turmoil escalating in Libya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling lawmakers on Capitol Hill that all options to address it are on the table, Senate leaders moved swiftly to register their official condemnation of the longtime Libyan leader.
Kirk said he backed the Obama administration’s moves so far against the Libyan regime, including freezing its assets and pushing for a unanimous United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions.
“Now the United States should do more,” he said in a statement. “There is a bipartisan consensus building to provide assistance to liberated areas of Libya and to work with our allies to enforce a no-fly zone.”
The resolution denounces Qaddafi for “gross and systematic violations of human rights,” describes his regime as “a brutal dictatorship,” and urges him to resign.
It calls on the Security Council to take action to protect civilians in Libya, including imposition of a no-fly zone. It also says the Senate “welcomes the outreach that has begun by the United States government to Libyan opposition figures and supports an orderly, irreversible” transition to democratic government in Libya.
Pan Am 103
“Qaddafi stands alone. The world stands united against him and his regime’s brutality,” Menendez said in a statement. He also called the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, part of Qaddafi’s “track record of terror.”
During a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today, Clinton said the government would consider prosecuting Qaddafi for the bombing -- a statement that elicited praise from lawmakers.
“I fully support the administration’s intent to consider prosecution of Muammar Qaddafi for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 190 Americans, as well as implementation of unilateral sanctions against Colonel Qaddafi and his regime, including freezing assets, imposing a travel ban on senior officials, and suspending military aid,” Representative Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid spending, said in a statement.
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted of murder in Scotland in 2001 for his role in the bombing. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after medical experts said he was expected to die within three months because of advanced prostate cancer. He returned to Libya, where he was greeted by cheering crowds, and is still alive.
To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Davis in Washington at jdavis159@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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