Washington: The United States is preparing
for contingencies in Libya and has moved some of its assets
closer to the country, the White House said on Wednesday.
Without going into specifics, the White House Press
Secretary Jay Carney said civilian forms the part of
these contingencies, but quickly pointed out that no option is
off the table.
US reportedly moved its ships to waters closer to
Libya in order to prepare for contingencies of a chiefly
humanitarian nature.
Carney said Col Muammar Gaddafi of Libya no longer has
any credibility inside the country or anywhere in the world.
"The events have moved with remarkable speed, and we
have reacted, both the United States, President Obama, the
international community, with remarkable speed," he said.
"Not everything we do comes in the form of a speech
or an announcement. One of the reasons why we had so much
success, we and our partners, in moving the international
process so quickly, because of the intense diplomacy that that
entailed," Carney said.
The spokesman said the US President Barack Obama
and his national security team are "focused on this
intensely."
Meanwhile Senator Robert Menendez finalised a new,
bipartisan Senate resolution condemning the recent brutality
and aggression by Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and calling for new
steps against his regime.
The Senate resolution calls on the UN Security
Council to consider a no-fly zone to protect Libyans from
Gaddafi, as well as outreach by the United States to Libyan
opposition figures.
Menendez's resolution also calls on Gaddafi to
resign and permit a peaceful transition to democracy and
endorses the actions of the United Nations Security Council,
including referral of the Libyan situation to the
International Criminal Court.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 09:57