The Conservative Report: Libya

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Obama to Qaddafi: Leave Libya Now

Posted by gunnerstahl at 11:12 PM

Feb. 25: President Obama meets with Democratic governors in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington.

Speaking out against Muammar al-Qaddafi for the first time, President Obama said on Saturday the Libyan leader needs to "leave now," having lost the legitimacy to rule.

In a White House statement on Obama's telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama took his most direct position yet on the escalating violence in Libya.

"The president stated that 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," it said.

Obama's stance comes after he signed an executive order Friday freezing assets held by Qaddafi and four of his children in the United States. The Treasury Department said the sanctions against Qaddafi, three of his sons and a daughter also apply to the Libyan government.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced further sanctions Saturday, revoking visas for senior Libyan officials and their immediate family members. She said future applications from those blacklisted for travel to the United States would be rejected.

Qaddafi "should go without further bloodshed and violence," Clinton said in a separate statement.

Obama has been conferring with world leaders about the unrest in Libya. The administration is hoping that the world speaks with a single voice against Qaddafi's violent crackdown on protesters, and Obama is sending Clinton to Geneva on Sunday to coordinate with foreign policy chiefs from several countries.

The U.N. Security Council met urgently Saturday to debate new sanctions against Libya but disagreed over a proposal to refer Qaddafi and his top lieutenants to an international war crimes tribunal.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants immediate action to protect Libyan civilians. The U.N. chief was due in Washington on Monday for talks with Obama at the White House.

The administration had been facing increasing pressure to more forcefully condemn Qaddafi and explicitly call for his ouster, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy has done. Witnesses in Libya said Qaddafi is arming civilian supporters to set up checkpoints and roving patrols in Tripoli, the capital.

The U.S. held back, but its tone shifted sharply on Friday after Americans in Libya were evacuated to safety by ferry and a chartered airplane.

Shortly after, Obama signed an executive order outlining financial penalties designed to pressure Qaddafi's government into halting the violence. The order said that the instability in Libya constituted an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and foreign policy.

A nonviolent revolt against Qaddafi's government began Feb. 15 amid a wave of uprisings in the Arab world. Most of Libya's eastern half is under the control of rebels. Witnesses say Qaddafi's government has responded by shooting at protesters in numerous cities.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Latest Politics Videos February 25, 2011Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:56:37 GMT9:02 PM EST

White House Pushes Libya Sanctions, Says Qaddafi Legitimacy 'Reduced to Zero'

Posted by gunnerstahl at 7:42 PM

"Feb. 23: Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at right, speaks about the situation in Libya in Washington. The Obama administration could impose travel bans, freeze assets and take other steps against Qaddafi loyalists as early as Feb. 25, officials said." /

Libya Crisis Fuels Washington Debate Over Energy Production as Prices Rise

Posted by gunnerstahl at 7:27 PM

Traders work the crude oil options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange Feb. 24 in New York.

The crisis in Libya has revived the partisan debate in Washington over energy production, with Democrats and Republicans drifting to familiar arguments as they try to figure out a solution to rising oil prices.

A Libyan diplomat reportedly said Friday that the country, which accounts for about 2 percent of the world's crude oil exports, will stop exporting oil while the unrest persists. The United States isn't as dependent on Libyan oil as other parts of the world, but the country still provides thousands of barrels per day to the United States.

As protesters clash with forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, the price of crude oil worldwide has risen significantly -- by about $11 a barrel from a week ago.

The impact at the pump has so far been slight, but with gas prices already on the rise, lawmakers in the past two days have started pressuring the Obama administration to do something.

Democrats are calling for a short-term, immediate fix -- tapping into America's oil reserves. They also urged the president to do more to encourage the development of "clean-energy alternatives."

Republicans, on the other end, used the Libya crisis as another example of why the United States should expand domestic drilling.

"Americans are feeling the pain at the pump as gasoline prices climb towards four dollars a gallon. Tapping the (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) may provide some temporary relief but we must consider America's long-term energy security," Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. "Short-term releases of oil from our strategic reserves does not replace the 300,000 barrels a day this administration has squandered due to inaction on offshore drilling permits, nor will it put the thousands of people in the Gulf back to work."

The Obama administration has shown little interest in expanding domestic drilling since the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration last fall lifted a deepwater drilling ban it put in place after the spill, but some want the permitting process sped up. The Interior Department also announced it would ban for at least seven years any new drilling in the eastern Gulf and off the East Coast.

Hastings said the nation could insulate itself against spikes by expanding into the Gulf, Alaska, the Atlantic Ocean and elsewhere.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday renewed an uphill push to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, citing the unrest in the Middle East. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell also made the case for Alaska oil exploration and production during a speech Friday in Washington, D.C.

"No doubt, the turmoil in the Middle East has had an impact on the recent spikes in energy prices, but the fact of the matter remains that this administration's recklessly imposed barriers to American oil and natural gas undermines our economy and encourages our dependence on foreign imports," House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said.

But Democrats say better fuel economy and alternative-energy investment will insulate the market from foreign oil disruptions. And in the short-term, they pushed the administration to open the petroleum reserve. A group of Democrats wrote to President Obama Thursday urging him to release even a small portion of the 727-million-barrel reserve, saying it could have a large impact on petroleum prices in the United States.

"As we approach the summer driving season, we must carefully consider all immediate options in order to prevent the runaway increase in prices that we saw in the summer of 2008," Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said in the letter. "We therefore urge you to consider leveraging the SPR to respond to these supply disruptions and combat the rapid price escalations resulting from rampant speculation in the oil markets."

Daniel Weiss, a director of climate strategy at the liberal Center for American Progress, also wrote in a USA Today column Friday that "drill, baby, drill" will not suffice.

"Unrest in Libya and Egypt is driving up oil prices, stirring concerns that gasoline could hit $5 a gallon by summer. Like a smoker's persistent cough, it's another warning to change our ways," Weiss wrote. Weiss said new drilling would take years to yield anything from the Gulf and sided with the clean-energy suggestions made by Democrats in the letter to Obama. Weiss also said Obama should sell 30 million barrels from the reserve if Mideast turmoil drives the price of gas to $4 a gallon.

"Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton sold reserve oil to lower prices and reduce the deficit," Weiss wrote.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, reacting to the Democrats' letter, said Thursday that the administration has "the capacity to act" but is currently just monitoring the situation.

The price of gas has been rising steadily, though it has not spiked as much as the per-barrel price of oil. An average gallon of gas costs $3.29, compared with $3.16 a week ago and $2.69 a year ago.

Obama pushed to invest in clean-energy technology during his first two years in office. The movement comes as domestic oil production has fallen, from about 10 million barrels a day just a few decades ago to about 5 million a day.