Comment & Debate
Obama Administration letter to Congress justifying Libya engagement, June 15, 2011: “Beyond the specific military objectives, the President has stated that Qadhafi has lost all legitimacy to rule and must step down. His brutal behavior against his own population has been catalogued by a United Nations Commission of Inquiry and has resulted in a request for arrest warrants by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. […] The Libyan opposition, led by a Transitional National Council (TNC), continues to gain credibility and legitimacy and has laid out its vision for an inclusive approach for a post-Qadhafi political transition. For that reason, Secretary Clinton said on June 9 that the United States believes the TNC is the legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people at a time when the Qadhafi regime has lost all legitimacy to rule. Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the UAE have all made similar statements over the past two weeks.”