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Africa North
Obama: Gaddafi must leave Libya now
2011-02-27
[Al Jazeera] US President Barack B.O. Obama has said that Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy has lost his legitimacy to rule and urged him to step down from power immediately.
Can we convince B.O. to do the same???
Obama's call came in a call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, sharpening US rhetoric after days of deadly violence and criticism that Washington was slow to respond.

"When a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now," the White House said in a statement, summarizing Obama's telephone conversation with Merkel.
Qadaffy wasn't a legitimate ruler since at least 1973.
"The president and the chancellor shared deep concerns about the Libyan government's continued violation of human rights
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
 and brutalization of its people."

Previously the White House has stopped short of calling for Qadaffy to leave, saying -- just as in other countries affected by a wave of regional unrest -- only Libya's citizens had a say in choosing their rulers.
Which doesn't mean we can't help them.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Jay ...
 echoing Obama's tougher stance, said Libyans had made their preferences on that issue clear.

"We have always said that the (Qadaffy) government's future is a matter for the Libyan people to decide, and they have made themselves clear," Clinton said in a statement.
That shouldn't stop us from helping the Libyan people express themselves, Hilde...
"(Muammar Qadaffy) has lost the confidence of his people and he should go without further bloodshed and violence."

The B.O. regime had been criticised for its relatively restrained response so far to Qadaffy's bloody crackdown on an uprising against his four-decade rule.

But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.
That's what they're saying now.
Washington announced a series of sanctions against Libya on Friday after a chartered ferry and a plane carrying Americans and other evacuees left Libya.

Clinton said she signed an order directing the State Department to revoke US visas held by senior Qadaffy government officials, their family members and others responsible for human rights violations in Libya.

"As a matter of policy, new visa applications will be denied," she said.
Posted by:Fred

#10  How can you do one and expect the second to work? I just don't get the jackasses.

It's Liberal logic. You would have to be a liberal to understand, they are way smarter than us. Just ask one.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man   2011-02-27 20:41  

#9  It amazes me how irrational this dipshit president is. He denigrates America's reputation and achievements for two years then he tries to use the reputation of the US and bully pulpit of the POTUS to influence events around the world.

How can you do one and expect the second to work? I just don't get the jackasses.
Posted by: Hellfish   2011-02-27 18:54  

#8  Let's save that as a last resort...

Offer them a choice: The A-bomb or the harpy.
Posted by: gorb   2011-02-27 15:10  

#7  You'll turn a shrill, carping, ashtray throwing, Secretary of State loose on em.

Let's save that as a last resort...
Posted by: Steve White   2011-02-27 11:46  

#6  Or what Obama? You'll turn a shrill, carping, ashtray throwing, Secretary of State loose on em.
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-02-27 10:37  

#5  He has stronger statements in support of union thugs in this country.

But of course. Libyans can't vote for Obama*.


* campaign contributions might be another story...
Posted by: Pappy   2011-02-27 09:15  

#4  Events are moving too fast in Libya for sanctions to do much to curb Momar. A feckless response by a president who is incapable of leading. He has stronger statements in support of union thugs in this country.
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-02-27 08:55  

#3  Gaddafi kills thousands to stay in power and the denunciations roll in. The Norks intentionally starve hundreds of thousands to death in the past ten years, remain in power, and we still deal with them. As attributed to Stalin - One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. /sarc off
Posted by: Procopius2k   2011-02-27 08:32  

#2  But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.

But now the gloves are off, aren't they? Run away without looking back, Gadaffy. Your worthless life depends on it. Obama has unleashed ... [ Wait for it ] ... SANCTIONS!

Yes, nothing less than sanctions to confound your every breath and vex your POS existance! You'd better be afraid! The peasantry you leave behind should start feeling the edges of the effects in, oh, six or eight months. Long after your sorry ass has been deposed, denuded, diced, dessicated,and disposed of to the four winds.

Worthless, do-nothing, meaningless sanctions. Oh yes, we're all fooled by all the arm-waving and hollering. Nope, we're totally clueless about the fact that once again you have voted "present" without actually having used the word. All in the name of "not getting involved where we don't belong".

And it should only take a few years to have those very same sanctions lifted after all that's left of you is the memory of your syphilitic rule.

Better would have been to overfly the country to prevent Numbnutz from using his own planes against his own people, and plinking every tank and any group of thugs or "elite" guardsmen that shows itself. No need to land or put boots on the ground, just help them out a bit.
Posted by: gorb   2011-02-27 03:18  

#1  Obama Gaddafi must leave Libya now.

Just some minor title editing.
Posted by: Besoeker   2011-02-27 00:15  

00:00