GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul today denounced the United States intervention in Libya, criticizing the operation as unconstitutional and costly.
The longtime Texas congressman, who is in third place in the GOP nomination race, according to Gallup polls released this week, wrote in a statement that the United States was in no position to meddle in Libyan affairs.
“The current situation in Libya may be a short term victory for Empire, but it is a loss for our American Republic,” Paul wrote. “And, I fear it may be devastating to the Libyan people.”
“There is no doubt that Moammar Gadhafi is a bad guy, and that he has brought harm and misery to his country,” Paul continued. “However, our involvement in another country’s civil war is costly and unconstitutional.”
Paul said the he fears the the country will be taken over by another dictator or descend into sectarian anarchy, rather than peacefully transitioning to a democracy. Meanwhile, he wrote, the United States has spent money overseas while in the midst of a debt crisis.
“We have spent over $1 billion on a war that this administration has fought not with the consent of Congress, but under a NATO flag and authorization from the United Nations,” he wrote. (ALSO ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Financial disclosures: Herman Cain worth between $2.9 and $6.6 million)
“And so, our government continues to spend trillions of dollars in overseas foreign wars while we face unsustainable debt, a looming dollar crisis, and our Constitution seems to lose any meaning,” Paul continued. “These actions will sink our country if we do not reverse course.”
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