Gingrich admits to a double flip-flop on Libya intervention

Newt Gingrich can't make up his mind.

The former House speaker explained Sunday that he was actually against using force in Libya before his March 23 flip-flop on the no-fly zone.

In a March 7 interview with Fox News, Gingrich said, "Exercise a no-fly zone this evening."

After President Barack Obama committed to using U.S. forces for enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya, Gingrich changed his tune.

"I would not have used American and European forces," Gingrich said during a March 23 interview on NBC's Today Show

The Georgia Republican attempted to explain his flip-flop Sunday by telling Fox News' Chris Wallace that he had actually been against intervention in a February interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.

"Some are saying that whatever the president does or doesn't do, you're against," Wallace noted.

"Well, you should have played an earlier clip when I was on Greta's show in late February and I said we should be for replacing Gaddafi without using the U.S. military," Gingrich explained.

"Now, the president on March 3 changed the rules of the game. The president came out publicly and said Gaddafi must go. And so I was citing there my original position which is if you are not in the lake, don't jump in. Once you're in the lake, swim like crazy."

"Here is where I'm confused," Wallace said. "Greta's show March 7, the first clip you said to start the no-fly zone immediately. All she asked is what should we do about Libya? You made no mention about what the president had said, you said we should have intervened."

"Because there is an earlier Greta show in February which is where this all started," Gingrich insisted. "In February, I said we should find ways to get rid of him using the kind of strategies that Reagan and Eisenhower used, which was to help freedom fighters by using American force. That became impossible once the president publicly said Gaddafi must go."

This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast March 27, 2011.

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