More Questions About Libya
Smart war:
The Libyan operation, as Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said on yesterday’s Fox News Sunday, is not about protecting American interests. This is about Obama’s desire to subordinate American power to the “international community.” He was maneuvered into this action by the Europeans, the Arab League, and the ladies on his national security team led by Hillary Clinton.
Our prestige — assuming this President has any left — was put on the line two weeks ago, after Obama said Gaddafi “must” go. Then he dithered. And now that the shooting has started, Obama’s own hand-picked Joint Chiefs chairman doesn’t know if Gaddafi really “must” go or not. And it’ll all be over in a few days or maybe weeks, presumably regardless of the outcome
Does that mean Libya’s civilians will no longer be deserving of our protection at the end of an arbitrary and as-yet-unannounced deadline? Will the Coalition (of the willing!) pick up our slack? If so, how without American command and control and logistics? Or will we continue to provide those even after we cease combat operations? If our partners can’t keep up the pressure, will we step in?
Roger made a good case last weekend for American intervention (although that jab about “extremist libertarians” hurt a little, boss!), reminding us that “we’re all in this together,” and that “good is what we are supposed to do.” But this Administration is so feckless in the pursuit of its unidentifiable goals, that I honestly don’t see what good we’re supposed to do here.
I guess it’s all just too smart for me.
One thing I keep reflecting on is a comment at Just One Minute highlighted by Glenn Reynolds: Barry’s March Madness college basketball bracket picks went 29 of 32 in the first round. In order to have that level of success one has to spend lots of time watching regular season games and poring over stats. IOW, this is what Saint Barry has been spending much of his time on over the past several months instead of actually attending to the 24/7/365 job of President. Libya, Japan, Iraq, A-stan, economy, energy, etc. are just not as interesting as the hoops!
So, it seems Libyan civilians are more important than Somalian civilians? How’s that work?
Neither the UN nor the Arab League have the authority to send the United States to war. As worthy as the goal of protecting other countries citizens or removing Godaffy for that matter are, the war powers act requires an imminent threat to OUR security. It would appear that O’Sputnik believes he has all the authority he needs and it doesn’t come from this country.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says that Congress has the power to declare war, not the president. It’s hard to believe a school as prestigious as the University of Chicago law school would let someone teach Constitutional law who didn’t know that. If he had been my Con Law instructor, I would be asking the University for my money back.
Why are you under the impression that our Dear Liar gives a flying crap about our Constitution. “The Constitution is a charter of negative liberties.” That 1993 radio interview should have sunk his candidacy immediately. I did take Con Law in law school, basically they just teach you Supreme Court cases that interpret various parts of the Constitution. They do not teach you the Constitution and the principles underlining it.