US mulls Libya no-fly zone

The White House said on Thursday it was not ruling anything out in its response to the Libyan government's crackdown against a popular revolt.

"I'm not ruling out bilateral options," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters when asked whether the United States was considering military options. "I'm not ruling anything out."

He said the situation in the North African oil-producing nation "demands quick action."

Enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya was among the options whose feasibility was being studied by the US and its allies as a reaction to the Libyan crisis, Carney said.

"When we are examining all options, and that option has been tabled, at least in the press, but certainly has been discussed in other venues, that by exploring those options we are looking at feasibility, and I mean that broadly," he said.

'Gross, systematic violations'

Meanwhile, the US said it will throw its weight behind a European effort to expel Libya from the UN's top human rights body and name a special investigator to look into alleged atrocities committed by Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will help coordinate the larger international strategy to stop the violence in Libya when she attends a meeting of that group, the UN 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 US would support efforts to establish a UN-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.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to the story

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