In 2011, Donald Trump posted a videoblog, seen above, in which he passionately argued in favor of U.S. intervention in Libya, calling for Muammar Gaddafi to be taken out in a series of surgical strikes.
“Gaddafi, in Libya, is killing thousands of people. Nobody knows how bad it is and we’re sitting around. We have soldiers all over the Middle East and we’re not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage. And that’s what it is, it’s a carnage,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
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“Now we should go in. We should stop this guy which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it and save these lives. This is absolute nuts. We don’t want to get involved and you’re going to end up with something like you’ve never seen before. Now, ultimately the people will appreciate it and they’re going to end up taking over the country eventually. But the people will appreciate it and they should pay us back. But we have to go in to save these lives. These people are being slaughtered like animals,” he added.
Trump concluded, “We should, on a humanitarian basis, immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively, and save the lives.”
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At CNN’s February 25 Republican presidential debate in Houston, rival GOP candidate and U.S. Senator from Texas Ted Cruz accused Trump, who now says that taking out Gaddafi was a mistake, of flip-flopping.
“You know, it’s interesting, Donald just said that he never came out in favor of toppling Gaddafi in Libya. … You can see and hear the exact words from Donald’s mouth. And I assume when he sees that interview, maybe he forgot about it, but I assume Donald will apologize where he sees that he said exactly that,” said Cruz, referencing the above-embedded video, according to Breitbart.
Trump said at that debate in February of this year, “But let me just tell you, Syria, he’s saying that I was in favor of Syria. He said I was in favor of Libya? I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so much better off if Gaddafi were in charge right now.”
The fact check site PolitiFact gave Trump’s claim that he had never supported intervention in Libya a “pants on fire” rating.
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The post Trump on Gaddafi in 2011: U.S. Should ‘Immediately Go into Libya, Knock This Guy Out’ appeared first on Ben Swann's Truth In Media.
