Another Illegal War

In “Surprise War for Regime Change in Libya is the WrongPath,” Robert Naiman, policy director at Just Foreign Policy, writes:

The Obama administration set a bad precedent by launching a surprise war for regime change in Libya without congressional authorization or informed public debate, in violation of the letter and spirit of the War Powers Resolution enacted by Congress in 1973.

The War Powers Resolution - which is a law - explicitly affirms that:

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.

With Libya, there was no declaration of war, no specific statutory authorization, and no attack on the U.S. or its armed forces.

Read the whole article.