Qaddafi Sends Letter to Obama Urging End to Air Strikes

Associated Press

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WASHINGTON -- Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi appealed directly to President Barack Obama on Wednesday to end what Qaddafi called "an unjust war." He 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," Qaddafi wrote in a rambling, three-page letter to Obama obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. "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.

"I don't think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr. Qaddafi at this time," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, repeating U.S. and NATO demands that Qaddafi's forces pull back and cease attacks. She also renewed a demand that Qaddafi 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 Qaddafi 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 U.S. help for the rebels seeking Qaddafi's removal from power.

The rebels, aided by U.N.-auth frame."

Qaddafi 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 U.S. and international sanctions.

Although he listed a litany of complaints, Qaddafi said he bears 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 on Wednesday at Qaddafi'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 traveling to Libya, was not traveling on behalf of the administration and not carrying any message to Qaddafi from Washington.

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Associated Press writers Sebastian Abbot in Ajbadiya, Libya; Ben Hubbard in Benghazi, Libya; Jenny Barchfield in Paris and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Fox News Poll: Qaddafi Seen as More Committed than Obama

FoxNews.com

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By a wide margin, American voters think Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi is more committed to staying in power than President Barack Obama is to ousting him.

In addition, most voters think the Obama administration has failed to explain what the U.S. goals are in Libya, and more voters disapprove (51 percent) than approve (42 percent) of the president’s handling of the situation there.

These are just some of the findings in a Fox News poll released Wednesday.

By a large 31 percentage-point margin, more voters think Qaddafi is determined to staying in power (57 percent) than think Obama is committed to removing him (26 percent).

Most Republicans (71 percent) and independents (65 percent) say Qaddafi is more determined. Even among Democrats, a slightly larger number believe Qaddafi is more committed (43 percent) than think President Obama is (39 percent).

Meanwhile, despite President Obama making a prime-time address to the nation on March 28, most voters -- 61 percent -- say the administration has not explained what the U.S. is trying to achieve in Libya.

That includes not only 79 percent of Republicans, but also nearly half -- 45 percent -- of Democrats. For independents, 64 percent do not think the administration has clearly explained the goal.

Click here for complete poll results.

International military operations, including U.S. forces, began attacking pro-Qaddafi defenses on March 18.

Even as support for U.S. intervention in Libya is up a bit from last month, twice as many voters oppose it. Thirty percent favor the U.S. military getting involved, up from 25 percent three weeks ago (March 14-16).

A 62 percent majority opposes the military involvement, compared to 65 percent previously.

Support for the action among Democrats has increased to 33 percent in the new poll, up from 21 percent in mid-March. Still, a 59 percent majority of Democrats opposes it.

More than three-quarters (77 percent) reject the idea of the U.S. arming Libyan rebels -- something the administration says it is considering.

Some lawmakers are upset the president authorized military action in Libya without consulting Congress. A majority of voters -- 58 percent -- agree that was wrong. Some 37 percent think it was acceptable for the president to move ahead without Congressional input.

Views among Democrats are evenly split: 47 percent say it was okay to take action without Congressional input and 46 percent say it was wrong. Most Republicans -- 74 percent -- think it was wrong for President Obama to authorize action without consulting Congress, as do 54 percent of independents.

Nearly two-thirds of voters (63 percent) view the intervention in Libya as different from what the U.S. did in Iraq, and over half think it’s wrong to describe the action as

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Lawmaker Criticizes Muslim Group Director's 2009 Fundraising Letter to Qaddafi

"Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Nihad Awad wrote a letter to Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2009 asking him for funding for a new project" /

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U.S. Drops Financial Sanctions Against Qaddafi Defector

FoxNews.com

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The Obama administration, looking to lure more of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's henchmen away from the regime, has agreed to unfreeze the assets of a prominent Libyan official who defected last week. 

The Treasury Department announced Monday it would lift financial sanctions against Moussa Koussa. Qaddafi's ex-foreign minister had fled to Britain to escape the fighting between the regime and rebel forces backed by the United States and NATO, marking a significant defection from Qaddafi's inner circle. 

The United States is now taking a delicate approach with Koussa. 

The ex-minister is suspected of having blood on his hands as a long-time adviser to Qaddafi, and U.S. officials want to interrogate him about possible terrorist activities. But the administration also wants to convince other wavering Qaddafi officials that it's in their self-interest to defect. 

David Cohen, undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, made clear that the United States was trying to create an incentive for Qaddafi loyalists. 

"As we've said from the beginning, these sanctions are preventive and are not intended to be permanent," he said in a statement. "Koussa's defection and the subsequent lifting of sanctions against him should encourage others within the Libyan government to make similar decisions to abandon the Qaddafi regime." 

At the same time, he warned that Treasury would soon announce more sanctions against officials other than the 13 already on the list. 

"Those who continue to serve in the Libyan government should be put on notice that Treasury will continue to aggressively identify and target senior officials for sanctions," Cohen said. 

Dan Senor, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, described the announcement as a strategic move by the United States at a time when its military is pulling back and the war is in danger of entering a "stalemate." 

"Trying to flip these Libyan officials could become a substitute for the U.S. playing a more prominent role in trying to drive this through war fighting," he said. 

He said western officials will want to get Koussa's insight "on how to peel others way." He noted that, so far, Koussa has not been offered immunity. 

"If he's been close to Qaddafi, he's got a lot of blood on his hands and so this is the balance they're trying to strike," Senor said. 

Rebels claim Koussa was one of the Libyan officials behind the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland, most of them Americans. A State Department official, asked about Koussa's involvement, said last week that the administration is "pursuing" him for information. 

Though the administration is freeing up his assets, the White House said last month that it was looking at the possibility of sending at least part of the more than $30 billion seized from Libyan officials to finance the rebels. 

However, the possibility of funding, and even arming, the opposition, has been a touchy subject, amid claims that Al Qaeda has a foothold in the movement. One Algerian official told Reuters this week that Al Qaeda is trying to exploit the conflict to acquire weapons.

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