The White House's attack on his book slamming the Obama administration's support for overthrowing former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi is "bizarre," former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"The more that I listen to it, the more bizarre it becomes," Hoekstra, the former Michigan congressman, told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in a reference to White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "He says, 'We're going to measure Gadhafi in his totality.'"
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Hoekstra, a Republican who served from 1993 to 2011, is the author of a new book titled,
"Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya."
The book argues that the Obama administration is primarily responsible for turmoil in Libya and that despite Gadhafi's tyrannical viciousness, he did dispose of his weapons of mass destruction.
White House press secretary
Josh Earnest said Tuesday that "a careful consideration of his long record would probably not conclude Col. Gadhafi was not a friend and ally of the United States."
Hoekstra told Malzberg that "America made the decision in 2003 and so did Gadhafi that he was going to leave his ways of terrorism, that he was going to ally with the U.S. and Europe and that he was going to fight radical jihadists, pay reparations to the victims of terrorism and give up his nuke program.
"Now, we have a new president in town I guess who says we have to go back and rethink that.
"What does this say to people in the future?" Hoekstra asked. "Leaders in the future who are opposed to our policies or who have been opposed to our policies — and they decide to flip sides.
"It's a terrible, terrible message for this administration to send to the world."
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