Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — As rebel and pro-government forces in Libya maneuvered on the battlefield today, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi urged U.S. President Barack Obama to end the NATO bombing of his war-torn country.
Gaddafi made the appeal in a letter to the American president, a senior administration official said.
But the official said there was “nothing new” in the letter, the thrust of which was an appeal for an end to the alliance’s air operations. It contained no offers to negotiate or step down, and the official said the administration isn’t taking the note seriously.
Gaddafi asked Obama to stop the “unjust war against a small people of a developing country” and said those in the opposition are terrorists and members of al Qaeda, the official said.
“We have been hurt more morally than physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you,” Gaddafi wrote, according to the official. “Despite all this you will always remain our son.”