Obama Sued Over Libya Mission

When what was promised to be a limited intervention has instead turned out to be a protracted mission costing $750 million and counting, blowback was inevitable. That Obama informed Congress after joining the mission, rather than seeking authorization, made it even more so—and now lawmakers of both parties are suing the executive over the US' involvement in Libya.

A bipartisan group of House members will file a lawsuit Wednesday challenging U.S. participation in the Libya military mission.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is set to defend U.S. military involvement in Libya to Congress, according to the White House.

The administration will provide a report to address a June 3 House resolution that raised questions about the president's goal in Libya, how he hopes to achieve that goal, why he has not sought congressional authorization for involving U.S. troops abroad and how much the conflict will ultimately cost, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a letter to Obama on Tuesday that the administration could be in violation of the War Powers Resolution if it fails to get congressional authorization by Sunday, which he notes will be the 90th day since the mission began.

The lawsuit, which will be formally announced at a Washington news conference, will cite the War Powers Resolution as well as the role of Congress in protecting taxpayers' money, said Rep. Walter Jones, R-North Carolina, one of the 10 legislators filing it.

A statement by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, an anti-war liberal who is leading the litigation effort with Jones, said the lawsuit will "challenge the executive branch's circumvention of Congress and its use of international organizations such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to authorize the use of military force abroad, in violation of the Constitution."

"With regard to the war in Libya, we believe that the law was violated. We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of these illegal policies," Kucinich said in his statement.

...The White House has said it was complying with the War Powers Resolution through frequent briefings on the Libya mission.

Boehner's letter contested that assertion.

"Since the mission began, the administration has provided tactical operational briefings to the House of Representatives, but the White House has systematically avoided requesting a formal authorization for its action," Boehner's letter said. "It has simultaneously sought, however, to portray that its actions are consistent with the War Powers Resolution. The combination of these actions has left many members of Congress, as well as the American people, frustrated by the lack of clarity over the administration's strategic policies, by a refusal to acknowledge and respect the role of the Congress, and by a refusal to comply with the basic tenets of the War Powers Resolution."

Yes, Boehner et. al. are enormous hypocrites for having not had similar concerns during Bush's flagrant disregard of compliance with the War Powers Resolution, but that makes them wrong then, not now.

I despised contempt shown for a long-established system of checks and balances over war activities during the Bush administration, and I despite it now.

Formal authorization, rigorous oversight, and as much transparency as possible should be requisite elements of any defense mission in a representative democracy.