Hostilities and Helplessness, or There's No War Here!

The Obama Administration has released a document styled "United States Activities in Libya." It's fairly short as such things go, only 32 pages. Buried on page 25 is a meager one-paragraph analysis of the legal basis for the Administration's actions in Libya.

The President has authority to conduct limited military actions without consulting Congress, or getting Congressional approval, which is true under the 1973 War Powers Resolution. At that point, though, the analysis gets tricky, because that power is limited to 60 days. Where hostilities go beyond 60 days, Congressional approval is required. To avoid this 60-day limit, the President is claiming that (1) he is operating under a United Nations Resolution which defines the extent of the military action, and (2) it's not legally called "hostilities" since the Libyans are not able militarily to respond to the airstrikes against them.

That type of legal analysis shows the extent to which the current Administration disregards the concept of the "rule of law" on which America is (or, in the Administration's view, apparently was) based. A U.N. Resolution does not and cannot grant the President exemption from American law. Furthermore, the President cannot say "We are killing them, but it's not going to become hostile unless they start shooting us, so really, there's no war here!" Hostilities do not have to be mutual, although I suspect Quaddafi does harbor hostility towards the U.S., despite his helplessness to express it.

It is time for the Congress to step in and hold this rogue President accountable.