WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday sharpened its condemnation of a bloody crackdown on Libyan opposition demonstrators as it broadened its outreach to government officials, dissidents, rights activists and youth in other Arab nations across a Middle East that is seething with unrest.
Amid the tumult rocking the region, Obama condemned
the violence in Libya in the sharpest terms Washington has yet used and
directed his administration to prepare a full range of options, including
possible sanctions that could freeze the assets and ban travel to the U.S. by
Libyan officials. He said he was sending Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton to Geneva for international talks aimed at stopping the bloodshed and
formulating a unified global message to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
"The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and
it is unacceptable," Obama told reporters after meeting with Clinton at
the White House. "So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters
and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international
norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop."
Obama did not, however, lay out specific measures he
would take if Gadhafi did not respond to the appeals. In part, U.S. officials
said, this was because of fears that Gadhafi might order reprisals against
Americans and other foreigners still in Libya if threatened with sanctions. A
ferry carrying 35 U.S. diplomats and family members along with an unknown
number of private Americans was to have left Tripoli for the Mediterranean
island of Malta on Wednesday but was delayed due to poor weather.
Fearing an anti-American backlash elsewhere from
protesters who toppled two longtime U.S. allies and are threatening other
friendly Arab regimes, Obama urged the region to embrace reforms. His comments
signaled the administration is seeking to align itself with reformists in
post-revolt Tunisia and Egypt and to be seen as a force for democratic change
in Bahrain and other Persian Gulf states to blunt a possible rise of extremism
and preserve U.S. influence there.
"Even as we are focused on the urgent
situation in Libya," Obama said, "our efforts continue to address the
events taking place elsewhere, including how the international community can
most effectively support the peaceful transition to democracy in both Tunisia
and in Egypt."
Before Obama spoke, Clinton participated in an
online discussion with young Egyptians who spearheaded the rebellion that
ousted President Hosni Mubarak, a major recipient of U.S. aid over the past
three decades. Her Internet appearance came as the administration's
third-ranking diplomat visited Tunis after a several-day stop in Cairo and the
top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East opened a five-nation tour of the Persian
Gulf. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is already
in the Gulf region visiting U.S. allies.
Mullen's trip along with the dispatch of Undersecretary
of State for Political Affairs William Burns to Egypt and Tunisia and Assistant
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman to Qatar, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates come as Washington tries to prevent
a rise in anti-U.S. sentiment in the region.
While Mullen is concentrating on military
alliances, Burns and Feltman were shoring up relations with government
officials and affirming the U.S. commitment "to our longstanding
partnerships in the region as well as universal human rights, freedom of
expression and the promotion of democratic principles," the State
Department said.
But the difficulties of promoting America in the
Arab world were underscored in Clinton's appearance on Egypt's www.Masrawy.com , a website designed
mainly for young Egyptians.
In a 30-minute, mostly Arabic-language
question-and-answer session, Clinton was peppered with questions from skeptical
youth about America's long and close partnership with Mubarak despite the
repressive nature of his regime. She was asked why the U.S. did not seem to
support Mubarak's opponents until they had won and if the United States would
support real democracy in Egypt even if Islamists took power.
Clinton said again and again that although Mubarak
was a U.S. ally, successive American presidents had continuously, although unsuccessfully,
pressed him to reform and criticized his regime's abuses.
"The United States has relations with many
countries whose values we do not always agree with and whose actions we often
criticize," she said. "But we do have relationships with China, with
Russia, with Egypt in the past that are very complicated and which operate on
several levels at once."
And she stressed over and over that the United
States supported the aspirations of the Egyptian people and hailed their
nonviolent protest as an inspiration to the world. She also repeatedly offered
U.S. assistance.
"I am very proud of what Egyptian young people
have done," she said. "You have set such an extraordinary example of
nonviolent, peaceful protest. We will stand with you. We want to be your
partners. We are inspired by you and we believe in you, and the United States
is ready to assist in any way that would be appropriate."
At the same time, she warned that democracy was not
easy and that they should be patient but persevere through difficulties ahead.
"I hope you will understand that having
brought down a regime and having made it clear you will settle for nothing
other than democracy, that you understand it's going to take commitment and
determination to translate the energy and the spirit of Tahrir Square into the
day-to-day work of building a democracy," she said. "I have no doubt
in my mind that this can be done as long as people do not get exhausted,
frustrated, give up too soon, because the process is sometimes very hard to
deal with."
Another theme Clinton returned to was the peaceful
nature of the protests, which she said repudiated the message of al-Qaida and
other extremist groups.
"Al-Qaida's position is there is no such thing
as peaceful protest; there is no such thing as democracy," she said.
"Well, I hope they were watching on television as Egyptian young people
proved them wrong on both of those points."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
