The Illegal War in Libya by Glenn Greenwald

[Better Believe It]

The Illegal War in Libya
by Glenn Greenwald
May 19, 2011

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation" -- candidate Barack Obama, December, 2007

"No more ignoring the law when it's inconvenient. That is not who we are. . . . We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers" -- candidate Barack Obama, August 1, 2007

When President Obama ordered the U.S. military to wage war in Libya without Congressional approval (even though, to use his words, it did "not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation"), the administration and its defenders claimed he had legal authority to do so for two reasons: (1) the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (WPR) authorizes the President to wage war for 60 days without Congress, and (2) the "time-limited, well defined and discrete" nature of the mission meant that it was not really a "war" under the Constitution (Deputy NSA Adviser Ben Rhodes and the Obama OLC). Those claims were specious from the start, but are unquestionably inapplicable now.

From the start, the WPR provided no such authority. Section 1541(c) explicitly states that the war-making rights conferred by the statute apply only to "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces." That's why Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman -- in an article in Foreign Policy entitled "Obama's Unconstitutional War" -- wrote when the war started that the "The War Powers Resolution doesn't authorize a single day of Libyan bombing" and that "in taking the country into a war with Libya, Barack Obama's administration is breaking new ground in its construction of an imperial presidency."

Read the full article at:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/19/libya/index.html


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Death of the War Powers Act?
By Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway
The Washington Post
May 19, 2011

This week, the War Powers Act confronts its moment of truth. Friday will mark the 60th day since President Obama told Congress of his Libyan campaign. According to the act, that declaration started a 60-day clock: If Obama fails to obtain congressional support for his decision within this time limit, he has only one option — end American involvement within the following 30 days.

Obama has not only failed but he hasn’t even tried — leaving it to Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, to call for a “specific resolution that would give authority.” Neither the president nor the Democratic congressional leadership has shown any interest. They have been sleep-walking their way to Day 60.

Why, then, hasn’t the president been pressing Congress to approve the war before the looming deadline? Because it’s easier to paper over the problem with new legal fictions pretending that the time limit doesn’t apply to this instance. By Friday, the administration’s legal team is likely to announce that the clock stopped ticking on April 1 — the date when NATO “took the lead” in the bombing campaign. Since NATO is running the show, the argument will go, the War Powers Act no longer applies, and the president doesn’t have to go back to Congress after all.

If nothing happens, history will say that the War Powers Act was condemned to a quiet death by a president who had solemnly pledged, on the campaign trail, to put an end to indiscriminate warmaking.

Read the full article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/death-of-the-war-powers-act/2011/05/17/AF3Jh35G_story.html


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President Must Seek Congressional Authorization
if He Plans for Continued American Military Action in Libya

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2011
CONTACT: Dallas Jamison, Senior Communications Director; 202.580.6922; cell-720.333.1494;
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON—Today, members of The Constitution Project’s bipartisan War Powers Committee, including its co-chairs, former Members of Congress Mickey Edwards (R-OK) and David Skaggs (D-CO), as well as war powers expert Louis Fisher, urged President Obama to immediately seek congressional approval if he plans to continue America’s military operations in Libya.

In a letter sent to the White House today, the President was reminded that on May 19, 2011, the 60-day clock of the War Powers Resolution runs out. The letter notes, “The Constitution requires the President to obtain the authorization of Congress prior to initiating the use of force abroad except for a limited range of defensive purposes. None of these purposes was present in the reasons you gave for your unilateral determination to use force in Libya. While we appreciate that United Nations Security Council and NATO approvals may have significance under international law, they have no bearing on the legality of the use of force under the Constitution of the United States.”

In its 2005 report entitled Deciding to Use Force Abroad: War Powers in a System of Checks and Balances The Constitution Project’s War Powers Committee recommended improvements to war powers decision-making designed to restore the proper roles of all three branches of government.

Established in 1997, The Constitution Project (TCP) is known for its ability to bring together unlikely allies—experts and practitioners from across the political spectrum—in order to promote and safeguard America’s founding charter. TCP is working to reform the nation’s broken criminal justice system and to strengthen the rule of law by undertaking scholarship, consensus policy reforms, advocacy and public education. TCP was born out of the belief that we must cast aside the labels that divide us, in order to keep our Constitution and our democracy strong.

http://www.constitutionproject.org/pdf/PR_President_War_Powers_0518_2011.pdf

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. K&R

[Distant Observer]

2. Feel sorry for the Pres. The contradictions surround him like a vice

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1134289