Former six-term Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia Cynthia Mckinney, 56, has never been shy about her disagreement with, or distaste for, certain U.S. foreign-policy and economic decisions. Over the weekend, in an act that is certain to be seen as provocative, McKinney, now a member of the Green Party, appeared on Libya’s state-run television channel condemning American support for the anti–Moammar Gadhafi insurrection.

During the Tripoli interview, McKinney said she was in Libya to understand what was happening and to understand the truth. "I want to say categorically and very clearly that these policies of war ... are not what the people of the United States stand for, and it's not what African-Americans stand for," she said.

McKinney also lambasted the Obama economic policy. She said that it continues to make the rich more wealthy and the poor less well off, and that "the situation in the United States is becoming more dire for average ordinary Americans, and the last thing we need to do is to spend money on death, destruction and war."

During her 12 years as the first Black woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives McKinney, who was first elected in 1992, was known for her antiwar activism, interest in health care issues and sometimes intemperate remarks. She has said that the U.S. government knew the September 11, 2001, attacks were going to occur, and that then President George W. Bush may have known of the acts of terrorism in advance.

In 2006, in a incident that received much media play, McKinney said she had been racially-profiled after she pushed a new Capitol Hill guard who did not recognize her and asked for her identification.

McKinney left the Democrats in 2007, and a year later ran for president of the United States on the Green Party ticket.

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