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Kucinich: President Needs Congressional Go-Ahead for Libya No-Fly Zone
1250 AM WTMA ^ | Friday, March 18, 2011 | ABC News Radio

Posted on 03/18/2011 9:20:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Rep. Dennis Kucinich is calling for the recessed Congress to come back into session after President Obama announced that the United States will support a United Nations-approved no-fly-zone over Libya.

Kucinich, an outspoken opponent to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in a statement that the president does not have the Constitutional power to unilaterally declare war and called on House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to immediately call the Congress back into session "to decide whether or not to authorize the United States' participation in a military strike."

"While the action is billed as protecting the civilians of Libya, a no-fly-zone begins with an attack on the air defenses of Libya and Qaddafi forces. It is an act of war. The president made statements which attempt to minimize U.S. action, but U.S. planes may drop U.S. bombs and U.S. missiles may be involved in striking another sovereign nation. War from the air is still war," Kucinich, D-Ohio, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders Friday afternoon. "Whether the U.S. takes military action is not for the UN alone to decide. There is a constitutional imperative in the United States with respect to deciding to commit our U.S. armed forces to war."

"Both houses of Congress must weigh in," he added. "This is not for the President alone, or for a few high ranking Members of Congress to decide."

But the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told ABC News Friday afternoon that he did not believe Congressional authorization is necessary for U.S. involvement, and credited the president for opening up a White House national security briefing Friday to Congressional leaders from both parties.

(Excerpt) Read more at wtma.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: charleston; kucinich; libya; southcarolina
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Only thing is, she’s probably crazier than he is...


21 posted on 03/18/2011 10:12:01 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open ( <o> ---)
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To: smokingfrog

She comes from a socialist backgound in the UK, IIRC.


22 posted on 03/18/2011 10:16:04 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet ("You cannot invade the US There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." Yamamoto)
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To: SunkenCiv

This politician is right. Ron Paul also noted how the President can not declare war. The Constitution states the only Congress has the power to declare war.


23 posted on 03/18/2011 10:34:15 PM PDT by Republic_of_Secession.
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To: JRandomFreeper

Give Obama something the Democrats never gave Bush, a full declaration of war!


24 posted on 03/18/2011 10:35:22 PM PDT by dila813
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To: SunkenCiv

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day...


25 posted on 03/18/2011 10:40:15 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Republic_of_Secession.

Nobody pays any attention to the Constitution. The politicians stick their fingers in the wind and do what they think will gain them the most support.


26 posted on 03/18/2011 10:41:56 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: SunkenCiv

Of course it is true that only Congress can declare war. But the present can order military action without the consent of Congress for a limited period of time as authorized by the War Powers act.


27 posted on 03/18/2011 10:53:44 PM PDT by navyblue (<u>)
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To: SunkenCiv

He can do anything he wants for 60 days and must return a report back to Congress on the status, goals and required monies to continue aggression.

Just don’t fund it.

I say leave Qaddahfi there for now. We have no idea what he is going to be with and we got plenty of other countries that are already in that situation.


28 posted on 03/18/2011 10:59:08 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: bunkerhill7
No need: 1986: US launched air strikes on Libya- Just an encore performance

Wasn't that like retaliation?

29 posted on 03/18/2011 11:20:49 PM PDT by oldbrowser (Blaming the prince of fools shouldn't blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that elected him)
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To: SunkenCiv

Another useful idiot providing cover from the left.


30 posted on 03/18/2011 11:25:23 PM PDT by karnage
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To: navyblue
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C. 1541–1548) was a United States Congress joint resolution providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the United States is already under attack or serious threat.
31 posted on 03/18/2011 11:33:19 PM PDT by Sunsong
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To: stylin19a
USE TITLE 50 > CHAPTER 33 (WAR POWERS RESOLUTION )

§ 1541. Purpose and policy
(a) Congressional declaration

It is the purpose of this chapter to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations.

(b) Congressional legislative power under necessary and proper clause
Under article I, section 8, of the Constitution, it is specifically provided that the Congress shall have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution, not only its own powers but also all other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer hereof.

(c) Presidential executive power as Commander-in-Chief; limitation
The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to
(1) a declaration of war,
(2) specific statutory authorization, or
(3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.

32 posted on 03/18/2011 11:38:53 PM PDT by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: An.American.Expatriate; Sunsong

It looks like the War Powers Resolution of 1973 doesn’t apply in this case.


33 posted on 03/18/2011 11:50:05 PM PDT by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/15/08 and why?)
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To: SunkenCiv

I'm declaring a no-fly zone. I don't want no stinking flies!

34 posted on 03/19/2011 12:47:57 AM PDT by jonrick46 (We're being water boarded with the sewage of Fabian Socialism.)
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To: navyblue; All
The last formal Declaration of War by the United States, under the specifications provided for by the US Constitution: June 5, 1942, against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

[FYI - Korea was called a UN Police Action and not a war.]

35 posted on 03/19/2011 2:04:03 AM PDT by jamaksin
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To: leakinInTheBlueSea

Though no official declaration of war, congress authorized Afghanistan, both Iraq wars and the Vietnam War. There were plenty of congressional votes, and money authorizations, for all those wars. And then there is the War Powers Resolution.

Obama has his 60 + 30 days.

I think we’re wrong to get involved in Libya but Obama is certainly within the scope of past presidential precedents (forgetting for the moment that he’s not legally the president).


36 posted on 03/19/2011 2:36:22 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: JRandomFreeper

And I agree with you, tired of see amercans get killed. We have a full plate and mountains of debt..


37 posted on 03/19/2011 2:41:17 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: ADemocratNoMore; Akron Al; arbee4bush; agrace; ATOMIC_PUNK; Badeye; Bikers4Bush; BlindedByTruth; ...

Ohio Pings!

To be added to the Ohio Ping List, please freepmail (works best),
LasVegasDave.

38 posted on 03/19/2011 3:00:19 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave ("Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Ronald Reagan)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

And,,,,, she has a tongue stud! Excellent taste in women!


39 posted on 03/19/2011 3:08:24 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Was he on the Triv Show yesterday? I thought he was gonna be, but I got busy and forgot to listen.


40 posted on 03/19/2011 3:09:30 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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