President Obama injected the U.S. military into Libya’s civil war without ever seeking congressional approval, or leading a public debate. To square this clearly illegal action with the law and his previous statements about presidential war powers, his lawyers (who, like Obama, had fiercely attacked Bush’s overreaches on war) argued that our air strikes in Libya did not count as “hostilities” as defined by the law.
Today, it looks like the rebels we’ve backed have succeeded in deposing Moammar Gadhafi, (which, you’ll remember, was not the aim of our intervention). Setting aside the questions of the U.S.’s role in nation-building and peacekeeping, should we now forget about the fact that our President illegally launched us into a war?
The “liberal” Center for American Progress seems to think so, judging by this Twitter message:
ThinkProgress
Does John Boehner still believe U.S. military operations in Libya are illegal?thkpr.gs/rhAvia
It’s not a novel idea, that might makes right. It’s just not what you would expect to hear from folks calling themselves “Progressives.”
The truth is that Obama won’t be held accountable for illegally fighting a war. Republicans don’t really want to open that can of worms. There will be plenty of trash-talk today directed at those of us who opposed our entry into this war, but liberal Glenn Greenwald makes a good point in this long blog post. Here’s the conclusion:
