US to join effort to boot Libya from UN body

[cali]

(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will throw its weight behind a European effort to expel Libya from the U.N.'s top human rights body and name a special investigator to look into alleged atrocities committed by Moammar Gadhafi's regime, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will help coordinate the larger international strategy to stop the violence in Libya when she attends a meeting of that group, the U.N. Human Rights Council, in Geneva next week, the officials said.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the administration backs a European proposal for the 47-nation council to recommend Libya's expulsion. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss administration planning, also said the U.S. would support efforts to establish a U.N.-led probe into "gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities."

Council members were debating the resolution Thursday in Geneva, ahead of an emergency session Friday. Kicking out Libya would require two-thirds approval of all the 192 countries in the United Nations.

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[sabrina 1]

1. Well, that ought to stop the killing in Libya!

This is sickening. What they needed to do YESTERDAY was to take action that will protect the population from the brutality of the regime. Like declaring Libya a no-fly zone, like freezing the Qaddafi family assets so they cannot pay the mercenaries they are hiring.

They also need to warn the governments of Niger, Chad and wherever else the mercenaries are coming from that THEY need to stop all flights out of their countries carrying these murderous thugs, or face International Consequences they really don't need.

But kicking them out of the UN? Qaddafi is likely to laugh at that. How will it save a single life?

[David__77]

2. I am pleased with the administration's measured response.

They are taking the appropriate steps without overstepping.