The President has taken a lot of gas for his handling of the Libyan situation, some of it deserved. But I have to agree that we can't put U.S. ground forces into the country. Since the rebels appear to have their own military equipment, using coalition air power to prevent civilian deaths appears to be an appropriate limited objective.
UPDATE
A discussion of the War Powers Act has broken out on Volokh, with most commenters siding with Ilya Somin (and Dennis Kucinich, that strange bedfellow) that Obama's military orders violate the act. My prior training indicated a right of defense of defenseless third parties, so I am surprised by this view. There are more detailed expositions on theories of humanitarian intervention here. I am not persuaded that a limited intervention to prevent the imminent slaughter of civilians is illegal without congressional approval. Existing treaty obligations that established the United Nations appear sufficient to support such an act. However, I would say that anything beyond preventing an attack on civilians, such as taking sides in a civil war, will require congressional approval.
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Gee, think maybe next we can send in some national guard to keep there from being riots in WI?
ReplyDeleteOnly a few weeks late....
How will we know when we have won?
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sure Obama will tell us!
ReplyDeleteThe goal is not victory, merely preventing the slaughter of civilians, anything more would appear to violate the war powers act, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteDay late, dollar short. (Given the state of the federal funding bills, literally so.)
ReplyDeleteAll sniping aside, better to be late to the battle than not to have fought or lent a hand. His credulity with the far left continues to be stretched as he realizes his role and pre-election criticism of his predecessor.
ReplyDelete