The War Powers Act of 1973 reads as follows :
Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted pursuant to section 4(a)(1), whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United States.
(HT: Yale University Avalon Project).
As of 17 May 2011, armed forces from the United States will have been involved in military combat operations in Libya for 60 days. By that date, President Obama is required by statute to withdraw US Forces from Libya and cease all unpleasantness. Or, he could ask Congress to give him a resolution authorizing the use of force. This would seemingly make for a rather tough day at the links for President Obama.
Dedicated legislators like Senator John Kerry and Congressman James Moran should be in rather high dudgeon. We have a President sending drones to attack a foreign country in hopes of targeting a specific individual. We have a vague, unenforceable UN “no-fly zone” resolution that Russia’s president compared to a medieval call for a crusade. If the President isn’t careful here, he could act in a manner that Senator Kerry finds reminiscent of Simon de Montfort.
And then we have the ravening American Anti-War Movement – hardened veterans of The Siege of Crawford, TX. We all know Cindy Sheehan will bring her unimpeachable moral authority to Washington, DC and force President Obama to stop this war. She has tried. Sheehan describes what The Obama Presidency has meant to her movement.
Well, Gitmo is still open, military tribunals will resume for men who have been illegally detained for up to a decade now, US Tomahawk missiles are raining down on innocents in Libya (killing people to save them is the NEW PEACE), dictators are still supported, Israel is still occupying and oppressing Palestine, activists are being targeted by Obama’s DOJ while BushCo are being protected, the USA PATRIOT ACT was renewed, the Gulf is dying–and where is the outrage?
Yes. Where is the outrage? Michael Moore at least offers up some entertaining moral equivalence while complaining about the failure of the Navy SEALS to properly Mirandize OBL. His Vastness opines below.
After comparing Confederate general Robert E. Lee and Confederate president Jefferson Davis to bin Laden, Moore groused, “I’m just saying, I want my America back.” He then added, “I dunno, maybe it never was. We are a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves.”
Noam Chomsky seems to view Libya as an excuse to bash prior US policy. His strongest statement was “There comes a point when you cannot support your favorite dictator anymore.” (HT:eslteachersboard.com) Alas.
So in sum total, what is the Anti-War Movement’s relevance to this situation? What are they doing about war in Libya? What did they do about Gitmo not being closed? Or how about Kosovo and the entire Yugoslavian operation run by President Clinton? About what Matt Tiabbi predicted they would in his famous Rolling Stone Magazine article “The Chicken Doves”
Working behind the scenes, the Democrats have systematically taken over the anti-war movement, packing the nation’s leading group with party consultants more interested in attacking the GOP than ending the war. “Our focus is on the Republicans,” one Democratic apparatchik in charge of the anti-war coalition declared. “How can we juice up attacks on them?” The story of how the Democrats finally betrayed the voters who handed them both houses of Congress a year ago is a depressing preview of what’s to come if they win the White House.
Thus, I predict that the 60-Day Mark in Libya will come quietly. The UAVs and bombers will still fly. Senator Kerry will not be reconvening a Winter Soldier Convocation. James Moran will undoubtedly hang an illegal turn with his nose at the intersection of Cocaine and Bushmills. Cindy Sheehan will protest. Maureen Dowd will no longer care.
With a Democratic Commander-In-Chief sending in the drones, the movement becomes an insignificant pustule on the buttocks of modernity. They will ignore the repeated violations of promises, of deals, and of Federal laws. They will wait along with Godot for Eric Holder to close Club Gitmo. The total silence surrounding the War Powers Act deadline for Congressional Authorization of the use of force in Libya demonstrates the extent to which America has a hypocritical, dishonest, Anti-Republican Anti-War Movement.
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