Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says President Obama did the right thing in approving the military strikes against Libya. Harkin says, “I believe the president pursued the proper course, although I wish we’d have done it early, but we couldn’t do it until the Arab League supported it and we had the U.N. Security Council vote, I just wish the U.N. had done it earlier.” Harkin says he supports the action now, but doesn’t want to see it escalate.
Harkin says we have learned in the past that there are some people in the world — the leaders of Rawanda for example — that are willing to slaughter their own people just to stay in power. “That is what this is about in Libya, I would be against going to war against Quadafi or introducing troops, or to widen the war, but I do believe that civilians need the cover or the United Nations,”Harkin said.
The President has talked about handing the operation over to other countries, and Harkin agrees with that. Harkin says he thinks the leadership should be moved to the French and the British as he says they are much closer to it and are already assuming more and more of the day-to-day operations.
Harkin made his comments at an event Tuesday in Des Moines.