Following the death of Col. Moammar Gadhafi, freshman Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday the French and British deserve credit for carrying “the load” of the mission and criticized President Barack Obama for not acting earlier. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is “hopeful” that Libya’s Transitional National Council will want a “representative government.”
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Rubio, who recently returned from a trip to Libya, was asked if he thinks Gadhafi’s death serves as credit to President Obama.
“No. Let’s give credit where it’s due,” responded Rubio at the Capitol. “Number one: The French and the British carried the load on this, and let’s not forget that. Number two: The Libyan people, or actually it’s in the reverse — the Libyan people. Okay, you go to those hospitals, those are Libyans laying in those beds, who fought for their freedom and were able to accomplish it.”
Rubio criticized the Obama administration’s timing and tactics in the conflict.
“My point is, if the U.S. had gotten involved early, aggressively and decisively, today would have happened months ago, Libya wouldn’t be as destroyed, it wouldn’t cost as much money to rebuild them, there wouldn’t be as many people dead or injured, and there wouldn’t be as many militias or rockets missing,” he said.
“So look, it’s great that it turned out well, but there are consequences. Sometimes you don’t just have to do the right thing, you have to do the right thing at the right time. And I think this administration failed to do that.”
McConnell hopes Libya will be an ally of the U.S. (RELATED: Post-Gadhafi, Obama warns other regional strongmen)
“That certainly clears the way for the Transitional National Council in Libya to begin to put together a representative government. And I am confident that we, along with the Europeans, will try to help them in that process,” said McConnell.
“A number of the people who led the Transitional National Council were educated in the United States, and we’re obviously hopeful that they will want to have a representative government and that they will be an ally of the United States.”