N.M. reaction to Obama’s speech

The U.S. Capitol building (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

New Mexico’s U.S. senators were quick to praise President Barack Obama on Monday following his speech explaining the military mission in Libya.

The state’s U.S. House members, meanwhile, are split on U.S. involvement in the country.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said Obama made a “strong case for why he had committed U.S. military assets to this effort.”

“I was encouraged to hear that this is going to be a limited mission, and I believe he did a good job of defining that mission,” Bingaman said. “He was clear that we are not pursuing regime change through military action.”

“Finally,” he said, “I am glad to hear that as of Wednesday, NATO will take on the lead role in enforcing the U.N. resolution, and that we will be playing a supporting role.”

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., also said Bingaman “demonstrated leadership and patience to create a strong international coalition to prevent further attacks on the Libyan populace by its government.”

“As the president outlined tonight, the next step is to make sure the U.S. mission in Libya is more narrowly defined and limited, with NATO leading the effort to keep the Gaddafi regime from attacking civilians,” Udall said. “Congress must now meet its constitutional obligations to ensure that the U.S. mission in Libya is not prolonged.”

New Mexico’s members of the U.S. House didn’t send out statements following the speech, but they were quoted about the military intervention by the Albuquerque Journal. U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., both expressed concerns, with Pearce saying he’s “solidly opposed to what we’re doing” because it “feels like an ad hoc war… and we don’t know exactly where we’re headed.”

A spokesman for Luján was quoted by the Journal as saying he had concerns about the cost of U.S. involvement.

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., was quoted by the Journal as saying Obama made the case for why military intervention was necessary.

“Not acting would have resulted in the mass slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians and deprived the Libyan people of the opportunity for the democratic change they are calling for,” Heinrich said.