In what appears to be a less than graceful grab for media attention, 2012 Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich has reversed his March 7 statements that the United States should enter Libya by force to remove Moammar Gadhafi. During that statement, Gingrich criticized the White House for not launching air strikes to neutralize Libya’s air force, stating that the United States’ position should be, ”that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable and that we’re intervening.”
During a March 23 interview with NBC News, Gingrich did an about-face. In contrast to the recent decision of the White House and the Pentagon to enter Libya as part of a joint UN effort, Gingrich stated, “I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Gadhafi. I think there are a lot of other allies in the region that we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.”
Later in the day, a Gingrich aide stated that his position had not changed, but that President Barack Obama’s had changed. “The president’s stated goal of removing Gadhafi changed. Gingrich’s goal of removing Gadhafi — since the president made that the goal for the U.S. — has not changed. The only rational purpose for an intervention is to replace Gadhafi,” stated the aide. Gingrich’s Facebook page attempted further clarification of the Republican presidential hopeful’s many publicly stated positions, citing that he now supports the mission because the goal is the removal of Gadhafi. There was no mention of his previous support to stop the “slaughtering” of Libyan citizens.
On Monday, President Obama again stated, “it is U.S. policy that Gadhafi needs to go.” But, he also confirmed the goal of U.S. military intervention was to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and protect its civilians, not to oust its leader. –a. robinson
Read the full story at MSNBC.com
