at this point, the united states and the world faced a choice. gadhafi declared he would show no mercy to his own people. he threatened to go door to door to inflict punishment. in the past, we had seen him hang civilians in the streets, and kill over 1,000 people in a single day. now we saw regime forces on the outskirts of the city. we knew that if we wanted if we waited one m charlotte could suffer a nasa kerr that would have reverberate across the region and stained the conscious of the world. it was not in our national interest to let that happen. i refused to let that happen.
moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale. we had a need to stop that violence, an international mandate for action, a broad coalition to join us and a plea of help from the libyan people themselves. we also had the ability to stop gadhafi s forces in their tracks without putting american troops on the ground. to brush aside america s responsibility as a leader and more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. the united states of america is different, and as president, i refuse to wait for the images of
two nations that inspired the world when their people rose up to take control of their own destiny. for more than four decades, the libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant, moammar gadhafi. he has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world, including americans who were killed by libyan agents. last month, gadhafi s grip of fear appeared to give way to the promise of freedom and cities and towns across the country, libyans took to the streets to claim their basic human rights. as one libyan said, for the first time, we finally have hope that our nightmare of 40 years will soon be over.
nearly $1 trillion. that is not something we can afford to repeat in libya. as the bulk of our military effort ratchets down, what we can do and will do is do and will do is support the aspirations of the libyan people. we intervened to stop a massacre, and we will work with our allies and partners to maintain the safety of civilians. we will deny the regime arms, cut off its supplies of cash, assist the opposition, and work with other nations to haven the day when gadhafi leaves power. it may not happen overnight, as a badly weakened gadhafi tries desperately to hang onto power. but it should be clear to those around gadhafi and to every libyan that history is not on
gadhafi s side. but the time and space we provided with the american people, they will be able to determine their own destiny, and that is how it should be. let me close by addressing what this action says about the use of america s military power and america s broader leadership in the world, under my presidency. as commander in chief, i have no greater responsibility than keeping this country safe. and no decision weighs on me more than when to deploy our men and women in uniform. i ve made it clear that i will never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies, and our core interests. that s why we re going after al qaeda wherever they seek a foot hold. that is why we continue to fight