Libya

The War Powers Act Of 1973 And The Libyan Intervention

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It is now 60 days since the Obama Administration decided to intervene in the Libyan Civil War against Moammar Gaddafi in unity with NATO, without using ground troops.

So far, the Libyan intervention has not succeeded, and it is exasperating to many that this nation is now, in some form, involved with three wars at the same time–Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, although the Iraqi intervention is not considered a war situation at this point.

Controversy is now arising over the Obama Administration being involved in Libya, and six extremely right wing senators, including some Tea Party favorites, are now demanding that the administration seek a joint resolution of Congress to measure whether the Congress is willing to back a continued involvement in that North African nation.

The list of six senators includes a “nightmare” list of the worst senators in that chamber–Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (all Tea Party activists)– along with Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Cornyn of Texas.

They claim to understand the War Powers Act of 1973, which was vetoed by President Richard Nixon, and has been opposed in principle by every President since of both parties. But Senator John McCain, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 Presidential election, claims the law is unconstitutional, and that the President cannot be hamstrung by legislation limiting his Commander in Chief powers.

The legislation has never been considered by the Supreme Court, but the understanding of the author is that IF the Congress, by majority vote in both houses, demands a troop withdrawal from a military action begun by the President, that the President then would have a 60-90 day period to withdraw the troops. It is not clear that the President must gain a majority resolution in both houses to CONTINUE the war effort!

The War Powers Act has long been seen as a “paper tiger” that is a feeble attempt to control the President’s war powers. The reality is that in the modern world, the whole concept of interfering with a President’s military powers seems counterproductive, as the President and his advisers have more information about our defense posture and national security, and that senators or congressman who have a political motivation to interfere with smart policy making cannot be allowed to interfere in such a way as to undermine his ability to do his job.

Having said the above, it is clear to the author that the Libyan intervention is questionable as to its purpose, effectiveness, and its righteousness, but to allow a group of right wing senators who, in many cases, either backed, or if they had been in Congress, likely would have supported the Iraq War, to now be so “principled” on Libya, makes one want to laugh heartily, as it is obviously just a political ploy by men who have few principles in reality!

Florida Senator Marco Rubio: What Florida Has Wrought!

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Is it possible to believe that the fourth largest state in America could elect both Rick Scott as Governor, and Marco Rubio as Senator, and not be seen as a pariah by any sane person?

Scott is showing himself to be a nightmare beyond belief, the fulfillment of the worst tendencies of the Tea Party Movement, and refusing to communicate with the news media or anyone who does not accept his lunatic actions and beliefs!

On the other hand, Marco Rubio is far from uncommunicative with the news media!

If anything, he is a publicity hound, anxious to be questioned and interviewed, and is, despite his protestations, demonstrating his ambitions, before he even hits the age of 40 next month, to run for national office!

Of course, he says he is not running for President in 2012, but if the Republicans demanded he run, he would be sure not to turn them down, but he is on everyone’s short list for Vice President, because of his good looks, charisma, great speaking ability, being Hispanic (Cuban) in a country becoming more Hispanic every day, and being from a large electoral vote state!

Meanwhile, he is making clear that he will not vote to extend the debt limit, or to allow another extension beyond April 8 in the final settlement on the present fiscal year budget if no agreement on budget cuts is reached by next Friday. He is ready to let America face a shutdown of the federal government, which would be a financial disaster, hurting millions of Americans, whether it takes place on April 8 or later. He is reckless with our future, and has no concern about those even of his ethnic nationality who would be victims of his flirtation with the Tea Party Movement!

At the same time, he wants America to go full scale into a third war against Muslim nations, by having an invasion by combat troops to throw Moammar Gaddafi out of power in Libya, a movement that even Republican Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a carryover from the Bush Administration, firmly rejects as a strategy for the Obama Administration.

Marco Rubio will be, unfortunately, a major player in the history of American politics and domestic and foreign policy over the long haul of the American future, as the Sunshine State has gone so far to the Right, and is unlikely to move back to the sane center of American politics anytime soon!

The Obama Doctrine: Uphold Values Of Human Life By Intervening To Stop Massacres Overseas!

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President Obama tonight gave a speech at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, DC, justifying American intervention in Libya as part of an international force to prevent a massacre of civilians in that civil war.

Obama called it a basic principle of the United States that we should oppose all violations of human rights when it involves the likelihood of mass murder by a deranged dictator who does not value human life, and is only too willing to conduct mass operations against civilians in large numbers.

This is a direct contradiction of what the United States did in the past: failure by Woodrow Wilson to intervene in the Armenian Massacre by Turkey in 1915 during World War I; failure by Franklin D. Roosevelt to step in during the mass Holocaust by Nazi Germany against Jews, gypsies, and others during World War II; refusal by Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter to intervene during the holocaust in Cambodia in the late 1970s; and failure by Bill Clinton to step in during the massacre that went on in Rwanda in 1994.

All of the above are seen as moral failures by the United States and the world, but this new doctrine, while admirable and principled, does bring up the issue of how the United States and NATO are supposed to afford the cost of constant interventions all over the world!

What if similar massacres are imminent in Syria, Iran, and other unfriendly nations in the Middle East? Why should not the United States step into the situation in the Sudan, the Ivory Coast, the Congo Republic, Zimbabwe, Myanmar and elsewhere?

Are we to be selective in where the US and NATO intervene? And what about the deaths in Bahrain, where the US Naval Command in the Middle East is situated, and in Yemen, where there are dangers of Al Qaeda influences that could affect world wide terrorism?

And how in the world are we to afford more defense and war spending long run, as we cut ruthlessly into education, health care, and other public services all over the country? How much longer can we tolerate the worsening of our every day lives and commit ourselves to reforming the world of its evils?

It is hard NOT to agree with the purposes of the Obama Doctrine in theory, but in practice, it seems impossible and a losing proposition politically for Barack Obama to seem to commit us to never ending intervention in the name of human rights and decency!

This is a torment for those of us who consider ourselves progressives and liberals, as even the best intentions cannot be fulfilled within the budget constraints the country faces in the short run and the long run!

Disappointments With Barack Obama: Guns, Labor, And Bradley Manning

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President Obama is overwhelmed with one problem after another, and with no break in stress and tension, as the world and the nation seem to be going from one problem to another.

Already, we have seen four major issues arise in 2011, which are bound to be among the top ten news stories of the year: the guns issue, after the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona in January; the uprisings in the Middle East, particularly Egypt and now Libya, leading to American involvement with NATO, the UN, and the Arab League, and Obama’s decision to intervene militarily against Moammar Gaddafi; the Wisconsin battle over organized labor, which has spread to other states as well; and the disastrous Japanese earthquake, ensuing tsunami, and the nuclear power plants emergency that followed those natural events.

So the ability of Barack Obama to do and say everything that one might feel he should, is, of course, unrealistic, but still there are three key issues that need to be addressed at some point soon by our President.

The first is to take strong leadership on the issue of the need for some greater regulation of guns, as since the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, and the killing of six others and wounding of thirteen, we have seen the murder by gun of close to 3,000 people. If this is not a national crisis, and with the additional murders of young black youths that we see in Chicago and elsewhere, then what is? It is hard to fight the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association, but the President MUST not sit on the sidelines as gun violence escalates, and the growing danger of political assassination of himself, or some other office holder grows by leaps and bounds as the economy continues to create a crisis atmosphere in regards to jobs and housing.

Secondly, Obama had said during his Presidential campaign in 2008 that he would march with labor if there was ever a threat against the rights of workers, but he has hardly spoken up, and certainly has not gone to Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, or Florida to speak up on the issue and to confront the “Bully” GOP Governors, including most infamously, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Rick Snyder, Mitch Daniels, or Rick Scott, who are destroying the rights of public employees, making them the scapegoat, as these governors favor the rich and the powerful, and set out to destroy collective bargaining. Obama will have to campaign on labor support in 2012, but he has been slow to react publicly with adequate words and actions!

Finally, there is the issue of Private Bradley Manning, who is accused of releasing and disseminating Wikileaks information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who is being held in inhumane conditions in the military brig at Quantico Naval Base in Virginia, stripped naked, not allowed to sleep normally, kept in solitary confinement, being mentally destroyed, all on the basis of accusations, but not yet coming to trial.

President Obama made a reference to Manning when asked at a news conference, that he had been assured that what was being done with Manning was totally appropriate, but that is clearly the furthest from the truth. It is clear that his mistreatment is an outrage that the President needs to stop immediately, and it is a tremendous disappointment that he seems up to this point to be totally insensitive to what is happening to Manning.

Urgent action on all three matters is needed, and hopefully, the first will be to relieve Manning of his inhumane treatment NOW!

Mr. President, we believe in you, but you need to take immediate action on all three of the above matters!

The Turnover Coming: The Future Without Hillary Clinton And Robert Gates

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As we see the beginning of the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama, the President faces the daunting task of replacing his top two cabinet members in the crucial fields of foreign policy and defense.

Hillary Clinton has now made it clear that she does not wish to be Secretary of State in a second Obama term, and Robert Gates was making such a declaration long ago, and intends to leave late this year.

Both have been excellent and talented members of the Obama cabinet, and they will both be sorely missed, and their planned leaving presents major headaches for President Obama, at a time when the war in Afghanistan is not going well, and the nation is faced by massive overseas problems, including the unsettled situation in Libya with the civil war there raging, and the possibility of a no fly zone being declared by the United Nations and NATO, which would entail US participation; and also the shocking earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant crisis in Japan, the third leading economy in the world, which will have ripple effects on the American and world economy.

This President has had to deal with multiple problems beyond any that earlier Presidents have had to face, and now the quest for the best, most competent successors to Clinton and Gates must begin in earnest, and this on top of the massive number of other domestic issues and problems, and a full scale battle for the Presidency not far off!

Barack Obama, The Scottish Justice Minister, And Pan Am Flight 103

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I am as outraged as anyone by the Scottish Justice Minister releasing a convicted Libyan terrorist, who brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December, 1988, killing all 259 people aboard and eleven on the ground. Even if he has terminal cancer is no reason to have released him, allowing him to go back to Libya, to a hero’s welcome, by a government which promoted terrorism and is still in power today under Colonel Quaddafi after 40 years of dictatorship.

But President Obama, unfortunately, was much too tame in his response. Deploring the development, but doing nothing else behind the scenes and in public during the period when this occurrence was being contemplated, is a tremendous mistake by the President. Contacting the Libyan government and asking that this terrorist not be greeted, as he ended up being received, was a total disaster.

I think the answer is to condemn publicly how the Libyan government has handled this situation, and the renewal of Libya on the list of terrorist nations. George W. Bush decided to remove Libya a couple of years ago because of so called “cooperation”, and supposed giving up of all nuclear material that could be used in weapons.

I always had doubt about the wisdom of Bush’s move, and I think this action by Libya requires a harsh response, even if it undermines relations with the Arab and Islamic world. If we do not take a strong stand against a mass murderer and the regime that sponsored him, then we are in deep trouble in regards to national security in the future. Such a development would tremendously undermine any possibility of serious Obama success during his Presidency.