Letter to President Obama Regarding Libya

Well, I guess this letter is a start. Now it's time for some answers from this Administration. Enough of the hiding behind the UN resolution Obama. This "action" is just another in a long line of examples that reflect Obama's weakness and inexperience. The "UN made me do it" excuse does not cut it.

This letter was written by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA).

March 23, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I have read your letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate dated March 21, 2011 concerning your order that United States Armed Forces attack the nation of Libya. You cite the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and your “constitutional
authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.”

The Constitution clearly and unmistakably vests Congress with the sole prerogative “to declare war.” Your letter fails to explain how a resolution of the United Nations Security Council is necessary to commit this nation to war but that an act of Congress is not.

The United Nations Participation Act expressly withholds authorization for the President to commit United States Armed Forces to combat in pursuit of United Nations directives without specific Congressional approval. The War Powers Resolution states that the President’s power to engage United States Armed Forces in hostilities “shall not be inferred . . .from any treaty heretofore or hereafter ratified unless such treaty is implemented by legislation specifically authorizing the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities…”

The War Powers Resolution unambiguously defines three circumstances under which the President as Commander in Chief may order United States Armed Forces into hostile action: “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Your letter cites none of these conditions.

Nor can the power to order an act of war be inferred from the President’s authority as “Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.” The Constitution’s Framers were explicit on this point. In Federalist 69, Alexander Hamilton draws a sharp distinction between the President’s authority as Commander in Chief as “nothing
more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces” and the authority of the British king “which extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies ~ all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.”

With all due respect, I can only conclude that your order to United States Armed Forces to attack the nation of Libya on March 19, 2011 is in direct violation of the War Powers Resolution and constitutes a usurpation of Constitutional powers clearly and solely vested in the United States Congress and is accordingly unlawful
and unconstitutional.

Sincerely,

Tom McClintock
Member of Congress

biggovernment.com...

Now, who's got the stones to move forward with more pressing actions against Obama. The talk is out there....

this is an awesome find , i would love to email this member of congress myself, just to thank him. however did you come across this? you must be a very good investigator my friend.

reply to post by infojunkie2


It's all there in the link. We'll see if this ball ever gets rolling...

reply to post by jibeho


Source

Kucinich is a leading Democrat and he is calling it an impeachable offense. So far at least 11 Congress people are calling it an impeachable offense. If they don't impeach him, they will at least challenge for the nomination in 2012!

The "Honorable" Barack Obama?

Well, I needed a laugh today.

Hopefully something can happen with this. Pen to paper isn't enough, but it's a start.

reply to post by getreadyalready


As a resident in Kucinich's district, I must say that this is the first time that I have agreed with the man. I still can't believe it, but tLil' Dennis can hit a triple every now and again.

just more evidence to be added to this thread

www.abovetopsecret.com...

President Obama just forwards his letters to his bosses. I say skip the puppet decoy and go right to the top of the pyramid of power. They don't open their own mail, so the next idea would be to mail yourself in a box with UPS directly to their estates, then when they open the box, punch them right in the face!

reply to post by boondock-saint


Let the pile continue!!

The problem is, the precedent has already been set by Bush. No "declaration of war" exists for the second Iraq war.

They (member of Congress) made no move to impeach Bush over these actions, and that undermines their position that they can impeach Obama. In fact Obama's operating within the UN security council's resolution and the Bush/Yoo precedent allowing the president to do exactly what Obama has done; use military force against a nation that supports terrorism. Even though the reason for intervening now in Libya has nothing to do with Gaddafi's past standing as an exporter of terrorism, the legal jargon allowing a president to do so has been authorized during the Bush era.

THE PRESIDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST TERRORISTS AND NATIONS SUPPORTING THEM

Here is an earlier lawsuit, over Bush's unilateral invasion of Iraq;

JOHN DOE I, JOHN DOE II, JOHN DOE III,
JOHN DOE IV, JANE DOE I, SUSAN E.
SCHUMANN, CHARLES RICHARDSON,
NANCY LESSIN, JEFFREY MCKENZIE,
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN CONYERS,
REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS KUCINICH,
REPRESENTATIVE JESSE JACKSON, JR.,
REPRESENTATIVE SHEILA JACKSON
LEE, REPRESENTATIVE JIM
MCDERMOTT and REPRESENTATIVE
JOSÉ E. SERRANO,
Plaintiffs,

v.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH and
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD H.
RUMSFELD, each in their official capacity,
Defendants.

A coalition of plaintiffs, including United States soldiers, parents of United States soldiers, and Members of the United States Congress, hereby bring this action challenging, under Article I, § 8 of the United States Constitution, the authority of Defendant President George W. Bush and Defendant Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (hereinafter “Defendants”) to wage war against Iraq, absent a clear declaration of war by the United States Congress.

Source - doebush21303cmp.pdf

The result of this suit (Kucinich was also among the plaintiffs) was nada. Unfortunately Bush set the precedent for what Obama is doing right now. So for all the righties that are outraged you should have thought about this 7, 8, 10 years ago and not been so dismissive of all those "liberals" who voiced their concern over Bush's attacks on the constitution.

How do you fix this? You would have to go back and fix all those legal loopholes Bush established that sought to undermine the constitution in his quest to take over Iraq before you can begin to complain about what Obama is doing in Libya.

Originally posted by jibeho
Well, I guess this letter is a start. Now it's time for some answers from this Administration. Enough of the hiding behind the UN resolution Obama. This "action" is just another in a long line of examples that reflect Obama's weakness and inexperience. The "UN made me do it" excuse does not cut it.

This letter was written by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA).

I don't like Tom McClintock, I believe he is another rightwing hack. That being said, I do believe we have no business attacking Libya regardless whether it is within a coalition or not, regardless whether it is under a UN charter. But don't act surprise, as if this is some precedent or this is an historic act, this has unfortunately been the case for almost all presidents. Before Obama there was Bush, Clinton, that other Bush, Reagan and even Carter, they either had their own wars, wars in conjunction with UN member nations and allies or they all had a shadow war occur under them, the ones we don't hear about... it may be all these. Like it or not, sending a band of elite soldiers into a country to take in some terrorist or enemy of the state without said knowledge or authorization of that country's government is an act of war as well and it happens now and will continue to happen. Having agents infiltrate government organizations is an act of war as well.

It's going to take far more than complaining to this president and this one incident in Libya to uphold the constitution, there are silent wars going on around the world without permission from congress or the people, black ops projects, military aid, these are all potential acts of wars without consent, (some will be hidden in bills for congressmen and woman to sign).

We need to break the agency status that is established in government, this goes further than "one president" and "one incident".

found this relevant to this thread

just switch iran out put in libya