KINGSTON – You cannot compare the US military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan to the recent air strikes against Libya, according to Congressman Maurice Hinchey.

While in Kingston, the Democratic lawmaker said the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan were conducted unilaterally by the US under the leadership of then-Republican President George Bush.

“The United Nations is legitimately focused on the situation in Libya and trying to improve the circumstances there and prevent the leaders in Libya from Killing people who are innocent as they have done in the past,” he said. “The attack of Iraq was carried out, not by the United Nations, not by any other country; it was carried out exclusively by the United States. I objected to it. I argued against it and voted against it.”

Hinchey also noted that the 1988 shooting down of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people both on the plane and on the ground, was ordered by Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi.