Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

The United States persisted with its muted response to the unfolding crisis in Libya on Wednesday, with President Barack Obama reiterating his condemnation of violence by Libyan forces against protestors, but stopping short of declaring sanctions or supporting any stronger measures.

In a statement to the press Mr. Obama said that his “highest priority” was to protect American citizens in Libya, adding however that the U.S. also strongly supported the universal rights of the Libyan people and “strongly condemn the use of violence in Libya.”

Yet unlike other leaders, notably French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was said to have publicly called for sanctions against Libya, Mr. Obama only hinted at a “full range” of measures that his administration might take against Libya for potential human rights violations.

He said, “I have also asked my administration to prepare the full range of options that we have to respond to this crisis. This includes those actions we may take and those we will coordinate with our allies and partners, or those that we will carry out through multilateral institutions.”

In a similar vein State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said to media here that while there were lots of actions that the U.S. could prospectively take, many of these actions required legal and executive orders to be undertaken, which implied a “standard of due diligence.”

Mr. Crowley said, “We are in the process of fully understanding and documenting what is occurring in Libya. We are prepared, as we are saying, to take appropriate actions internationally as well as... nationally, but many of these steps require some preparation.”

In his comments Mr. Obama however noted that he had asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to travel to Geneva on Monday to join with the foreign ministers of other nations in a discussion on developments in Libya and other parts of the Middle East by the Human Rights Council.

Additionally, William Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, was slated to make several stops in Europe and the region to intensify the U.S.’ consultations with allies and partners about the situation in Libya, Mr. Obama added.