Americas

Home page

Americas

Boehner blasts Obama claims on Libya

16 June 2011 21:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The constitutional battle over the Libya military mission is not over, APA reports quoting USA Today.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said today that President Obama’s claim he does not need Congressional authorization for Libya does not "pass the straight face test," and he raised the possibility of cutting funds for the operation.
In a report submitted to Congress yesterday, White House attorneys said the Libya mission is not subject to the 1973 War Powers resolution because the U.S. is in a support role to NATO forces.
"U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve the presence of U.S. ground troops, U.S. casualties or a serious threat thereof, or any significant chance of escalation into a conflict characterized by those factors," the report said.
Boehner noted that the U.S. is providing logistical support for drone attacks and airplane bombings of Moammar Gadhafi’s compound in Tripoli, and those certainly amount to hostilities.
The Republican speaker said the House may discuss limiting U.S. spending for the NATO-led operation, perhaps as early as next week.
The White House position certainly won’t satisfy the ten bipartisan House members who sued the administration Wednesday, claiming the Libya action is an illegal war.
"We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of these illegal policies," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, one of the ten House plaintiffs.
White House officials said the United States is acting in Libya in accordance with a United Nations resolution pledging to protect Libyan citizens from attacks by Gadhafi’s forces.
The U.S. role has been limited to surveillance, intelligence, assistance to bombing runs, and other things not related to the War Powers resolution.
"We’re not engaged in any of the activities that typically over the years in war powers analysis is considered to constitute hostilities within the meaning of the statute," said White House counsel Bob Bauer.