Barbour Cautions Against Mission Creep

Haley Barbour is continuing to voice his skepticism of Obama administration decisions in Afghanistan and Libya.

During an interview with a Jackson radio station, the Mississippi governor didn't hold back when asked about U.S. involvement in Libya

"Since World War II, the world has looked to America for leadership, but we haven't provided leadership in this administration," Barbour said on The Gallo Show. "In fact, the Obama administration's position has been to say, you know, we're just one the boys, so we're not going to try to be the leader. And we see that when you don't have strong leadership from the strongest country in the world, that everybody else scatters out and breaks up."

In addition to challenging the President's ability to lead, Barbour questioned the goal of U.S. involvement in Libya.

"We have to be careful in my mind, about getting into nation building exercises. Whether it's in Libya or somebody else, or somewhere else."

The governor took the occasion of talking about Libya to make comparisons with the Afghanistan War, which he suggested is a text book example of mission creep.

"We've been in Afghanistan 10 years. And the question to me in Afghanistan is not whether we should do whatever it takes to win the war on terror, because we should, whatever it takes, but there are only a hundred al-Qaeda in Afghanistan according to our own government. So have we suffered from mission creep over there that requires us to have 100,000 soldiers on the ground? I'm not saying do this, do that, what I am saying is we need to step back and take a look at what we're doing and see if we got the resources there, is all that necessary for our mission to be accomplished."

Days before the Obama administration made the decision to back a no-fly zone in Libya, Barbour told members of Chicago's Chamber of Commerce, "I think we need to be cautious about being quick on the trigger."

"The idea of nation-building, in my opinion, is something we need to be very, very, very careful about. I don't think it's our mission to make Libya look like Luxembourg." He continued, "At the end of the day, we might have some role in Libya but it should not be to send American troops in there and knock heads and make Libya what we would like Libya to look like. Because it, no offense, is not ever going to look like what we'd like it."