It is difficult to understand why the U.S. is equivocating when it should be expressing clear support for the amazingly brave Libyans whom Gadhafi is slaughtering. There is no way of knowing what may follow the Libyan dictator’s demise, as Gadhafi has made sure that no alternative leadership could even show its face, that no civil-society groups could organize, and that foreign mercenaries are empowered in place of the kinds of professional militaries which have acted with distinction in Tunisia and Egypt. The danger that Islamist groups—the ones most able to organize under these conditions of extreme repression—may exploit a Libyan power vacuum is real. But that is no reason to hope for a continuation of Gadhafi’s brutal buffoonery.

The U.S. should come down on the side of the Libyan people—and of our principles and values. The longer the current bloodshed continues, the worse the aftermath will be. The U.S. silence over the last crucial days has been mocked by commentators in the Arab media, who display with relish the 2009 photo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting with one of Gadhafi’s more hideous sons, Mutassim. We will not get much of a hearing in a post-Gadhafi Libya if that is how we continue to be viewed.

A clear statement of U.S. support would be significant in itself. But the situation calls for urgent action, not just improved rhetoric. Unfortunately, our options are not what they might have been if U.S. policy makers over the years had developed ties with potential opposition forces. Nonetheless, there are many things we can consider.

The U.S. should also be pressing for the suspension of Libya’s membership on the U.N. Human Rights Council. It should be investigating credible claims that Libyan embassy officials have threatened Libyan students in the U.S. to force them to attend pro-regime demonstrations in Washington. And it should urgently investigate rumors that cronies of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are flying mercenaries into Libya. If the rumors are substantiated, the U.S. should work with officials in France, Tunisia and elsewhere to stop such activity immediately.

Perhaps the most valuable assistance the U.S. could provide would be to break the communications blockade by which the Gadhafi regime is isolating the Libyan people and hiding its latest crimes. Such efforts might include something as simple as providing SIM cards for Libyans who cannot use their phones or who fear that their phones are not secure.

There is much more that the departments and agencies of the U.S. government could do to assist the Libyan people—particularly to break the communications blockade—but that would require a clear statement of policy, which has so far been lacking.

For days, various administration spokespersons, including the president, could do no more than recite the mantra that “the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen” need to show “restraint in responding to peaceful protests,” as though there is no difference between the failings of Bahrain’s rulers and Gadhafi’s record of brutality, terror and slaughter of peaceful protestors.

On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice refused to answer a clear question about whether Gadhafi is killing protestors, saying instead that “there has been less violence, very little so far in Tripoli,” although “in Benghazi—in the coastal areas—we’re very concerned about reports of security forces firing on peaceful protestors.”

Later on Sunday the State Department started to play catch-up, issuing a statement that called upon Libyan officials to uphold their stated “commitment to . . . safeguarding the right of peaceful protest” and to “hold accountable any security officer who does not act in accordance with that commitment.” Almost as soon as that statement was issued, however, Gadhafi’s son Saif made his ugly speech threatening his subjects with mayhem and civil war. Incredibly, an anonymous senior administration official then told CNN that the White House was “analyzing” the speech to see “what possibilities it contains for meaningful reform.”

Moammar Gadhafi in a video image broadcast on Libyan state television Tuesday

On Libya, the British government has been ahead of the American. On Saturday, British Foreign Minister William Hague condemned Gadhafi’s “unacceptable violence” against protestors and expressed concern about reports of heavy weapons and sniper fire against protestors. These reports, Mr. Hague said, “are horrifying. And . . . just because there aren’t television cameras present . . . that does not mean that the world is not watching.”

Thankfully, U.S. policy seems to have advanced. “Now is the time to stop this unacceptable bloodshed,” Secretary Clinton said in a powerful if belated statement on Monday. Still, she stopped short of calling for a rapid transition of power, as the U.S. eventually did with regard to Egypt.

What the U.S. should now be doing is investigating reports that mercenaries are carrying out Saif’s threat to take the country back to the Stone Age. If the reports are true, the U.S. should push the U.N. Security Council to endorse action to stop the slaughter.

Mr. Wolfowitz, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has served as deputy U.S. secretary of defense and U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.