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Together with our
NATO allies and coalition partners, the United States, France and
Britain have been united from the start in responding to the crisis in
Libya, and we are united on what needs to happen in order to end it.

Even as we
continue our military operations today to protect civilians in Libya, we
are determined to look to the future. We are convinced that better
times lie ahead for the people of Libya, and a pathway can be forged to
achieve just that.

We must never
forget the reasons why the international community was obliged to act in
the first place. As Libya descended into chaos with Col. Muammar
Gaddafi attacking his own people, the Arab League called for action. The
Libyan opposition called for help. And the people of Libya looked to
the world in their hour of need. In an historic resolution, the United
Nations Security Council authorized all necessary measures to protect
the people of Libya from the attacks upon them. By responding
immediately, our countries, together with an international coalition,
halted the advance of Gaddafi’s forces and prevented the bloodbath that
he had promised to inflict upon the citizens of the besieged city of
Benghazi.

Tens of thousands
of lives have been protected. But the people of Libya are still
suffering terrible horrors at Gaddafi’s hands each and every day. His
rockets and shells rained down on defenceless civilians in Ajdabiya. The
city of Misurata is enduring a medieval siege, as Gaddafi tries to
strangle its population into submission. The evidence of disappearances
and abuses grows daily.

Our duty and our
mandate under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 is to protect
civilians, and we are doing that. It is not to remove Gaddafi by force.
But it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Gaddafi in
power. The International Criminal Court is rightly investigating the
crimes committed against civilians and the grievous violations of
international law. It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to
massacre his own people can play a part in their future government. The
brave citizens of those towns that have held out against forces that
have been mercilessly targeting them would face a fearful vengeance if
the world accepted such an arrangement. It would be an unconscionable
betrayal.

Furthermore, it
would condemn Libya to being not only a pariah state, but a failed state
too. Gaddafi has promised to carry out terrorist attacks against
civilian ships and airliners. And because he has lost the consent of his
people any deal that leaves him in power would lead to further chaos
and lawlessness. We know from bitter experience what that would mean.
Neither Europe, the region, or the world can afford a new safe haven for
extremists.

There is a pathway
to peace that promises new hope for the people of Libya – a future
without Gaddafi that preserves Libya’s integrity and sovereignty, and
restores her economy and the prosperity and security of her people. This
needs to begin with a genuine end to violence, marked by deeds not
words. The regime has to pull back from the cities it is besieging,
including Ajdabiya, Misurata and Zintan, and return to their barracks.
However, so long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO must maintain its
operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the
regime builds. Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an
inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new
generation of leaders. In order for that transition to succeed, Gaddafi
must go and go for good. At that point, the United Nations and its
members should help the Libyan people as they rebuild where Gaddafi has
destroyed – to repair homes and hospitals, to restore basic utilities,
and to assist Libyans as they develop the institutions to underpin a
prosperous and open society.

This vision for
the future of Libya has the support of a broad coalition of countries,
including many from the Arab world. These countries came together in
London on March 29 and founded a Contact Group which met this week in
Doha to support a solution to the crisis that respects the will of the
Libyan people.

Today, NATO and
our partners are acting in the name of the United Nations with an
unprecedented international legal mandate. But it will be the people of
Libya, not the U.N., who choose their new constitution, elect their new
leaders, and write the next chapter in their history.

Britain, France
and the United States will not rest until the United Nations Security
Council resolutions have been implemented and the Libyan people can
choose their own future.

(Barack Obama is
the 44th president of the United States. David Cameron is prime minister
of Britain and Nicolas Sarkozy is president of France.)

New York Times