THE US has rebuffed a letter from Muammar Gaddafi to President Barack Obama, reiterating calls for the Libyan strongman to agree to a ceasefire and relinquish power.
Gaddafi appealed directly to President Obama to end “an unjust war” and also wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.
“You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action,” Gaddafi wrote in a rambling, three-page letter to Obama obtained by The Associated Press. “I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that.”
The White House confirmed the letter, but top officials shrugged it off. She also renewed a demand that Gaddafi give up his power and leave the country. “There needs to be a cease-fire, his forces need to withdraw from the cities that they have forcibly taken at great violence and human cost,” she said. “There needs to be a decision made about his departure from power and … his departure from Libya.”
Rebels and pro-government forces waged nearly stalemated battles in Libya, while a former U.S. lawmaker made an unendorsed private trip to Tripoli to try to persuade Gaddafi to step down.
An Obama administration envoy continued meeting with Libyan opposition figures in the rebel-held city of Benghazi, with no decision whether to increase US help for the rebels seeking Gaddafi’s removal from power.
The rebels, aided by UN.-authorised airstrikes intended to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces, have maintained control of much of the eastern half of Libya since early in the uprising, while Gaddafi has clung to much of the west. Gaddafi has been putting out feelers for a cease-fire, but he refuses to step down.
Neither government forces nor the rebels have made any serious gains in recent days and the conflict has shifted to smaller objectives on both sides such as control of the crucial oil port of Brega, where fighting has flared on the outskirts. In the letter, Gaddafi implored Obama to stop the NATO-led air campaign, which he called an “unjust war against a small people of a developing country.”
“To serving world peace … Friendship between our peoples … and for the sake of economic, and security cooperation against terror, you are in a position to keep Nato (NATO) off the Libyan affair for good,” Gaddafi wrote in the letter. “I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that.”
Neither White House press secretary Jay Carney nor State Department spokesman Mark Toner would discuss details of the letter. Gaddafi told Obama that a democratic society could not be built through the use of missiles and aircraft. He also repeated his claim that the rebels seeking his ouster are members of the al-Qa’ida terrorist network.
Addressing Obama as “our son” and “excellency,” Gaddafi said his country had been hurt more “morally” than “physically” by the NATO campaign. The letter, composed in formal but stilted English, includes numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
“Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the U.S.A. is a must, so that Nato (NATO) would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair,” Gadhafi wrote.
“Libya should be left to Libyans within the African union frame.” Gadhafi said his country had already been unfairly subjected to “a direct military armed aggression” ordered in 1986 by then-President Ronald Reagan, who famously called the leader the “Mad Dog of the Middle East.”
He also wrote of earlier rounds of US and international sanctions. Although he listed a litany of complaints, Gaddafi said he bore no ill will toward Obama in the letter, which was dated April 5, 2011 in Tripoli and is signed by “Mu’aumer Qaddaffi, Leader of the Revolution.” “We have been hurt more morally (than) physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you,” he wrote.
“Despite all this, you will always remain our son whatever happened. We still pray that you continue to be president of the U.S.A. We Endeavour and hope that you will gain victory in the new election campaigne.” Meanwhile, former congressman Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has visited Libya twice before, arrived in Tripoli yesterday at Gaddafi’s invitation.
Weldon said he is on a private mission to urge the Libyan leader to step down.
The State Department dismissed the significance of Weldon’s visit, saying he had been warned of the dangers of travelling to Libya, was not traveling on behalf of the administration and not carrying any message to Gaddafi from Washington.
“I don’t think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr Gaddafi at this time,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, repeating US and NATO demands that Gaddafi’s forces pull back and cease attacks.
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