Rick Santorum on Libya

Summary

Senator Santorum supported military intervention into Libya, but opposed the timing and method of President Obama. In March of 2011, Senator Santorum stated that he believed that President Obama had hesitated too much and missed an opportunity to be a positive force in Libya early on in the rebellion when Ghaddaffi's army was on the run and was confused. He added that the situation in Libya was nothing like the one in Iraq or Afghanistan and that the US could simply go in at the tipping point and assist the rebel forces. He stated that the President should have done something to help the rebels other than verbally state that he agreed with their cause.

Senator Santorum continued his criticism of President Obama's policies in the Reagan debate by stating that the President missed an opportunity to be a force for good in Libya by being indecisive.

 

Fox News Appearance

In August of 2011, Senator Santorum appeared on Fox News and discussed numerous items. He is asked about hwo much the US should be involved in the post Ghaddafi Libya and states that the US should be involved with the rebels and establish ties now for future relations.

BAIER: in Libya, it appears the rebels are now surrounding Tripoli. There is a call by Muammar Qaddafi's government for a cease- fire this morning, but they are under heavy attack. How much role if any should the U.S. play in a post-Qadhafi Libya?

SANTORUM: Well, this is another strategic area -- strategic country in the area. And obviously we should be very much engaged with these rebel forces. We have now taken sides as a result of the Obama administrations's policy. Now we need to maximize our influence within this group. So hopefully, hopefully that is going on right now. Hopefully we are developing relationships, we are building bridges to that rebel regime, and when they come into power, we will have some influence and some ability to be able to work with them to establish a stable regime in Libya.

 

Mission Confusion

In March of 2011 Senator Santorum appeared on CNN and spoke about the mission confusion in Libya.

 

Fox News Appearance

in August of 2011, Senator Santorum was asked about Libya and stated that the US should be making contacts with the rebels in Libya and that we had already taken sides.

Brett Baeur: In Libya, it appears that the rebels are now surrounding Tripoli. There's a call from Muammar Ghadaffi's government for a cease fire, but they are under heavy attack. How much role, if any should the US play in a post-Ghadaffi Libya?

Senator Santorum: Well, this is another strategic country in the area, and obviously, we should be very much engaged with these rebel forces. We've now taken sides as a result of the Obama administration policies. We need to maximize our influence within this group. Hopefully, that's going on right now, hopefully we're developing relationships, we're building bridges to that rebel regime and when they come into power, we will have some ability to work with them and establish a stable regime in Libya.

 

Reagan Debate

In September of 2011, Senator Santorum participated in the Republican debate at the Reagan library. He discusses Libya in the overall context of foreign policy.

 

 

Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation

This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.

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