War-powers crisis - Obama’s Libyan debacle could undercut U.S. credibility elsewhere

Washington Times ^ | June 6, 2011 | John R. Bolton

[Tailgunner Joe]

Last Friday’s House of Representatives vote on President Obama’s Libya policy was characterized widely as re- flecting bipartisan dissatisfaction with Mr. Obama’s failure to consult with Congress. There was indeed ample Capitol Hill disagreement with his handling of Libya - for a variety of reasons - but the real story is even more troubling. ....

Observers across the political spectrum concurred that the proposal offered by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, harshly criticizing Mr. Obama’s handling of Libya was very likely to pass the House. ....

While passage of the Kucinich amendment would have had no operational effect because it surely would have died in the Senate, the political signal internationally would have been debilitating. Washington’s credibility and staying power would have been called immediately into question, and not just in Libya, but in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. That may be precisely what many congressional Democrats, increasingly vocal in their opposition to the war in Afghanistan, intended. ....

Mr. Obama’s incoherence on Libya exemplifies the failed approach to national security issues characterizing his administration from the outset. First, Mr. Obama’s objectives in Libya have been unclear and contradictory, and they have shifted over time. He started by declaring that the use of force was to protect Libyan civilians - not to topple Col. Gadhafi. Today, however, the obvious military objective is the removal of the Libyan leader but, apparently, not to admit it publicly, and to accomplish it slowly and ineffectively. Had Col. Gadhafi’s downfall been the initial, unambiguous objective and had Mr. Obama moved swiftly and decisively, our intervention likely would have been concluded successfully by now and we could be working to secure a pro-Western successor regime.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Perhaps that’s part of the idea.

See also: Cloward-Piven Strategy.

[delbertt]

Where is boo hoo boehner on this outlaw president?He must be playing goof with him!! Shut this down!! Why are we not bombing Syria and Yemen. This stupid sob is bombing Libya? You have got to be kidding me. Why Libya and not Syria and Yemen?? Why not Egypt?? What the hell are we doing with our money???? What is this jack ass president doing??

[newheart]

Everything I know about war, I learned from the French.