The Wall Street Journal reports: “House Republican leaders on Wednesday abruptly canceled a vote on a resolution forcing U.S. withdrawal from Libya amid signs an … alliance of liberals and conservatives could approve the measure, indicating Congress’s growing dissatisfaction with the extent of U.S. military operations overseas.
“The House had been scheduled to vote on a resolution by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) requiring President Barack Obama to withdraw from Libya within 15 days. The measure cites the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which says the president must get approval from Congress if a military operation lasts 60 days or more.
“But at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Wednesday, GOP leaders were surprised by members’ strong concerns about the Libya operation. Some conservatives were prepared to support Mr. Kucinich’s resolution, Republican aides said.
“The House is now expected to take action on Mr. Kucinich’s measure on Friday, either by voting on it or setting a date for a vote. At the same time, Republican leaders are working to come up with alternatives that are less far-reaching than the Kucinich provision to allow lawmakers to vent their displeasure.”
BRUCE FEIN, bruce at thelichfieldgroup.com
Fein was deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy and American Empire: Before the Fall.
He said today: “Stalling on a vote now is part of the empire mentality that is out to frustrate popular sentiment and the proper working of Constitutional government.”
Fein just wrote the piece “McCain Dethrones the Rule of Law,” which begins: “Sneering at the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution, Senator John McCain (R. Ariz.) bugled last week, ‘No president has ever recognized the constitutionality of the War Powers Act, and neither do I. So I don’t feel bound by any [60 day] deadline’ to obtain congressional authorization to continue hostilities against Libya ordained by the Act.”
Politico reported in April of Fein’s drafting of articles of impeachment on the Libya war: “A prominent libertarian constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian has drafted an article of impeachment against President Obama over his attack on Libya, throwing down a legal gauntlet that could be picked up by some Congressional Republicans.”
DAVID SWANSON, david at davidswanson.org, http://davidswanson.org
Swanson is author of the recently-released “War Is A Lie” and works with the new activist group RootsAction.org.
He just wrote the piece “Is That Even Legal?” which states: “Last week, the House of Misrepresentatives passed numerous amendments to the ‘Defense Authorization Act of 2012.’ One amendment made clear that passage of the bill did not authorize war in Libya. … A U.S. law passed in 1973, the War Powers Act, if you read what it actually says, would have applied only if Libya had attacked the United States, which no one has ever claimed. But everyone pretended this law applied anyway. The War Powers Resolution requires that the President report information to Congress within 48 hours of launching a war, which Obama did — except that he didn’t include most of the information he was required to report. The War Powers Resolution also puts a 60-day limit on unconstitutional war, and that clock has expired.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
