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Obama Is Trying To Redefine What Constitutes Warfare (US-Libya)
6/18/2011 | Laissez-Faire Capitalist

Posted on 06/18/2011 1:21:21 AM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist

...With Harold Koh (legal advisor for the Department of State) and Jay Carney in tow - engaged in a game of semantics.

Harold Koh recently said: "We are not saying the president can take the country into war on his own. We are not saying the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional or should be scrapped or that we can refuse to consult Congress. We are saying the limited nature of this particular mission is not the kind of hostilities envisioned by the War Powers Resolution."

Problem is, is that the WPA does not make any distinction between one kind of hostility and another kind. The Obama administration has said that as long as U.S. forces are at "little risk" or as long as there are no boots on the ground (and so on) that all is well and that the WPA does not apply to Libya.

In the end, although the WPA is unconstitutional, Obama shouldn't try to redefine what constitutes "hostilities" or play a game of semantics by saying that the WPA makes a distinction between one kind of hostility and another and thereby try to redefine what constitutes warfare. Obama should have asked Congress to scuttle the WPA before the war started, but it's too late for that. Now he should do what President Bush would have done were he in this situation as the Orwellian New Speak ("not the kind of hostilities envisioned", "Kenetic military operation", etc) is getting old.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Military/Veterans; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: boehner; carney; chat; congress; constitution; haroldkoh; jaycarney; koh; libya; obama; warpowersact; warpowersresolution; wot; wpa; wpr

1 posted on 06/18/2011 1:21:29 AM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist
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To: All

What say you?


2 posted on 06/18/2011 1:24:34 AM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

Obama must either go to congress and ask for authorization, or go to congress and explain why he isn’t asking for authorization.

Congress, for its part, should either authorize it, or cut off funding. Obama is bypassing them, and purposely making them irrelevant.

Actually, they are doing it to themselves by not standing up. The first thing they did was create a trillion dollar slush fund that he could spend without their input, then they started passing laws they didn’t write and didn’t read. And now he is redefining war so he can ignore them, while they pretend not to notice.

They must either authorize it, defund it, or begin impeachment proceedings. Or else pack up and go home, they have already become a vestigial digit and there is no use paying their salaries anymore.


3 posted on 06/18/2011 1:40:59 AM PDT by marron
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

It’s not a war. It’s a Nobel Peace Action.


4 posted on 06/18/2011 2:48:18 AM PDT by ArcadeQuarters (Stuck with a local RINO? Regardless of who you vote for, donate $$$ to a different district.)
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

What if Russia hit Washington DC with just one nuclear weapon? Could they argue that because of the limited nature of the strike that it wasn’t an act of war? Okay, scale it back a notch. Let’s say North Korea sends a shipping container filled with Sarin gas to Dallas and sets it off. Act of war? You could use all of the Administrations’ arguments to say no. Scale it back another notch. An Iranian warship drops a mine directly in the path of The USS Ronald Reagan and sinks it. Act of war?
The whole mechanism propping up Progressivism is controlling the language. For those of you who read “1984” it’s New Speak.

Now let’s look at it from the other perspective. How does the Libyan government see our limited engagements? Act of war? I’d say they feel threatened and if they were to respond with a counter attack, say bombing a stadium during an NFL game, they’d feel plenty justified. Now, if we were really involved in a limited way, say we hired third party agents to meet with, train and supply the rebels, okay that probably would be limited and Libya’s response of killing large numbers of Americans would be “unjustified.” (Remember, when in this scenario, justification looks different.)


5 posted on 06/18/2011 4:16:42 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

seriously I just want to know WHO THE FU@# THIS ASS CLOWN THINKS HE IS?????!!!


6 posted on 06/18/2011 5:00:28 AM PDT by annelizly
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

The constitution is meaningless to Obama,note past actions.


7 posted on 06/18/2011 5:24:55 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Vaduz

We ain’t at war. Obama is just loaning our military to the Muslim Brotherhood.


8 posted on 06/18/2011 6:01:15 AM PDT by ez ("Abashed the Devil stood and felt how awful goodness is." - Milton, "Paradise Lost")
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To: ez

-——Obama is just loaning our military-——

Close, but no cigar.

The military is loaned to NATO, more specifically the Brits, French and Italians who are taking on Libya. The US Department of State has determined we must enter the fray because we were asked by allies, especially the Brits, who have been at our side when we asked.

This time it was them that did the asking.

The Presidential dilemma....... assist when asked or forgo assistance the next time we want help.


9 posted on 06/18/2011 6:07:15 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 ....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: ez

Or he’s working on a plan to end spending on the military.Cuts have to happen but he’s anti welfare cuts.Always remember with him it’s all about change.


10 posted on 06/18/2011 6:29:55 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

Warfare is what we will have if that sorry SOB gets elected again!


11 posted on 06/18/2011 6:48:40 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendemnet, A Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

According to Harold Koh’s interpretation if Obama ordered a Trident Submarine to launch 24 low yield high penetration warheads at Iranian nuclear facilities, that would not constitute engaging in hostilities.Works for me. Let’s do it.


12 posted on 06/18/2011 8:48:41 AM PDT by xkaydet65 (IACTA ALEA EST!!!)
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

13 posted on 06/18/2011 8:07:09 PM PDT by garjog
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To: Laissez-faire capitalist

Obamaspeak:

Bombing Libya isn’t war.
Killing unborn babies isn’t murder.
Two men sodomizing each other is marriage.
Spending a trillion of the federal treasury will stimulate the economy.
Obamacare isn’t a government take over of health care system.
It’s Bush’s fault.
If you are looking for partisan rhetoric, I’m not your guy.
We’ve saved or created jobs!


14 posted on 06/18/2011 8:13:58 PM PDT by garjog
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