Posted on 05/13/2011 5:21:15 PM PDT by Nachum
In an alternate reality where anyone still cares about Libya or the War Powers Act, this article is the biggest story in America today. As it is, the president concocts a half-assed legal dodge to avoid even minimal accountability in matters of war and somehow it’s not even on the board at Memeorandum.
Luckily, Congress doesn’t care either or else we might have had quite a tiff on our hands here.
The administration apparently has no intention of pulling out of the Libya campaign, and Mr. Steinberg said that Mr. Obama was committed “to act consistently with the War Powers Resolution.” So the Obama legal team is now trying to come up with a plausible theory for why continued participation by the United States does not violate the law.
A variety of Pentagon and military officials said the issue was in the hands of lawyers, not commanders. Several officials described a few of the ideas under consideration…
By ending all [drone] strike missions for American forces, the argument then could be made that the United States was no longer directly engaged in hostilities in Libya, but only providing support to NATO allies.
Another idea is for the United States to order a complete — but temporary — halt to all of its efforts in the Libya mission. Some lawyers make the case that, after a complete pause, the United States could rejoin the mission with a new 60-day clock.
I like the phrasing about how they’re trying to “come up” with a legal theory to justify a war a few days before the 60-day grace period ends, as if they’re some sort of high school study group brainstorming over pizza the night before a big class presentation is due. And the presentation doesn’t even have to be good — merely “plausible,” sort of in the C-/D+ range. Congress is famously an easy grader.
Hopefully the White House will have some fun with it, just to see how much crap Senate eminences like Kerry — who now admits the war is a stalemate — and McCain are willing to eat. The boldfaced logic in the blockquote is wonderfully surreal, for instance: If you take it seriously, that the president can wage war indefinitely without congressional authorization merely by declaring a formal halt and then a formal re-start to operations every 60 days, then the War Powers Act is a colossal joke. You wouldn’t have to go to court to try to nullify it on separation-of-powers grounds; it’d be effectively defunct, killed by its own weakness as Congress refused to support it. First the economy, then Bin Laden, now the WPA: Say what you will about The One, but when he wants something dead, he knows how to get the job done.
As for how long the mission will go on, apparently that’s entirely up to Qaddafi. He issued a statement today claiming that NATO bombs will never find him, but rumors are swirling that that’s not true.
The list, ping
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With respect to Libya, this administration is like the guy who didn’t mean to hurt the victim, tried to get him to be quiet, then killed him, then tried to figure out how to cover it all up.
It is legal by virtue of perp holding the Nobel Peace Prize. Like Marco Polo held a gold card from Kubla Kahn; like MI6 gave James Bond the double OO designation = license to kill. Who cares if Bambi is trying to tack a head-of-state’s pelt to the wall? It is suddenly cool to perform black ops without Congress, across borders, without warrants, without benefit of law or license. Conan the Barbarian Justice-style
You means the days not weeks war?
for an anti-war prez,
obama has started a 3rd war.
his mideast policy is to attack israel;
the so-called “democracy” movement will likely end in moslem radicalism.
It’s already illegal, why wait?
the only reason there is not a lot of attention being paid this is because Hussein the jackass is in power. If Bush were still the president, every single day we would hear how much money was being spent. we would see interviews with family members of those serving in the war effort, and every rumor regarding problems would be printed.
television networks would make it the most important story and we would hear about it every single day.
They have no choice other than islam, radical at that. The muzzlim parrots have no definition nor culture for what the western English speaking world calls democracy. Thus, it is not a drive for democracy, just a scam parroting the word democracy being used to push out dictators and be replaced by radical islam dictators. The mosques are on the move.
ping
what? we’re still there?
expect the photos of bin laden to be released this week to distract from this.
The Street Punk in Chief, and his gang of radicals flippin’ the wee birdie at the Constitution once again.
A spanking would be too nice for them.
When will Big Media begin to call the rookie Hussein a war criminal?
It is good to recall that Lord McCain is on Soros' payroll, as well.
A President starts a brand-new war.
And Congress couldn't care less. Indeed, can't be bothered to assert its constitutional duty.
Instead of raising hell -- like he should be -- McCain is trying to arrange an "accommodation" -- where the president can keep doing what he wants -- and the Senate doesn't have to take a stand one-way-or-the-other.
Indeed, it is Washington vs the rest of us...
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