Rep. Bachmann says she wouldn't have gone into Libya

Tea party-backed U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, D-Minn., says President Barack Obama has failed to demonstrate a vital U.S. national security interest for going into Libya.

Bachmann also says "I would not have gone in" to the strife-torn North African country where strongman Moammar Gadhafi is fighting to cling to power against a resistance force.

The Minnesota Republican is considering whether to seek her party's 2012 presidential nomination. She tells NBC's "Today" show she doesn't support the "Obama doctrine" of intervention in humanitarian crises.

She says the "Obama doctrine" would provide a rationale for the United States "to enter into one country after another." Bachmann says she's against giving military assistance to the rebels fighting Gadhafi, saying she fears there are al Qaida elements among their numbers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)