[Peace-discuss] Johnson opposes military action in Libya

[C. G. Estabrook]

> > U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL15): “Constitutionally, it is
> > indisputable that Congress must be consulted prior to an act of war
> > unless there is an imminent threat against this country. The
> > president has not done so,” Johnson said. “In fact, this is the
> > same man who questioned President Bush’s constitutional authority
> > to commit troops to war.”

Tim Johnson is quite right. Obama's action is patently illegal under the War 
Powers Resolution of 1973.  And killing people illegally is surely an 
impeachable offense.

But Obama did more than "/question.../ President Bush’s constitutional authority 
to commit troops to war.” He said, "The president does not have power under the 
Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that 
does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." He was right.

Obama is aware of the difficulty. His 21 March 2011 letter to both houses of 
Congress twists and turns to try to suggest that Qaddafi is "an actual or 
imminent threat to the nation." Of course he isn't.  --CGE


On 3/25/11 3:03 PM, Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
>  The current language used [to justify not consulting Congress]
>  focuses on short duration and skips the eminent threat to the
>  homeland stuff. Let's see if that's gonna play... --Jenifer
>
>  --- On *Tue, 3/22/11, Robert Naiman /<naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>/*
>  wrote:
>
>
>  From: Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> Subject: Re:
>  [Peace-discuss] Johnson opposes military action in Libya To: "Karen
>  Medina" <kmedina67 at gmail.com> Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net Date:
>  Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 6:18 PM
>
>  Kucinich has pledged to introduce an amendment to any funding
>  vehicle that would defund military operations in Libya - i.e., pretty
>  similar to what Tim Johnson is proposing. He is circulating a letter
>  to that effect; the last time I looked, Paul, Jones, and Stark had
>  signed it.
>
>  On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 5:53 PM, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com
>  </mc/compose?to=kmedina67 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> > Good going, Tim Johnson. I am curious to see what Kucinich does.
> > -karen medina
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 3:52 PM, Rohn Koester
> > <rohnkoester at hotmail.com </mc/compose?to=rohnkoester at hotmail.com>>
> > wrote:
> >> Johnson opposes military action in Libya
> >>
> >> Tue, 03/22/2011 - 11:30am | Tom Kacich
> >>
> >> U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, who already opposes U.S.
> >> involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, today said he would
> >> introduce legislation to de-fund military action in Libya.
> >>
> >> The six-term Republican said he would work with Rep. Justin
> >> Amash, R-Mich., a freshman congressman, to draft legislation
> >> declaring the action unconstitutional.
> >>
> >> “Constitutionally, it is indisputable that Congress must be
> >> consulted prior to an act of war unless there is an imminent
> >> threat against this country. The president has not done so,”
> >> Johnson said. “In fact, this is the same man who questioned
> >> President Bush’s constitutional authority to commit troops to
> >> war.”
> >>
> >> 
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2011-03-22/johnson-opposes-military-action-libya.html
>

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