White House insists Libya action legal

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White House insists Libya action legal

By on | AFP – 3 hours ago

President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that the current US action in Libya

did not violate US law, rejecting rising criticism in Congress over the legal

grounding and goals of the operation.

In a 30-page report to Congress, the White House argued that US participation in

the NATO-led assault on the forces of Moamer Kadhafi did not require

congressional authorization as Washington was confined to a supporting role.

The report's legal analysis said the US involvement in the UN-authorized

operation did not rise to the kind of direct, offensive warfare that needed to

be endorsed by lawmakers under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

" US forces are playing a constrained and supporting role in a multinational

coalition, " the report said, noting that the use of force was being used solely

to protect civilians, enforce a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.

" US operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire

with hostile forces, nor do they involve the presence of US ground troops, US

casualties or a serious threat thereof, or any significant chance of escalation

into a conflict characterized by those factors, " the report said.

A senior administration official added: " we are not engaged in any of the

activities that typically over the years in war powers analysis has been

considered to constitute hostilities within the meaning of the statute. "

The report also put US costs at $715 million for military and humanitarian

operations in Libya since unrest began in the north African country earlier this

year and the projected price tag through September is about $1.1 billion.

The document was compiled after House Speaker Boehner sent a scathing

letter to the president warning that US operations would be illegal come Sunday

because they lacked formal congressional approval.

The War Powers Resolution gives presidents 60 days to get authorization for a

military deployment and, failing that, sets a further 30 days to withdraw them

from harm's way.

Republican leadership aides said that they were studying the report, which

raised " creative arguments " that needed to be further explored.

" Regardless, the commander-in-chief has a responsibility to articulate how US

military action is vital to our national security and consistent with American

policy goals, " said Boehner spokesman n Buck.

" With Libya, the President has fallen short on this obligation. "

The administration said that the while it did not believe that it required

formal authorization for the Libya operation, it would welcome a statement of

support for the mission.

White House spokesman Jay Carney also said that the administration had initiated

more than 40 points of contact with Congress, disputing claims that lawmakers

had not been sufficiently kept up to speed.

Political maneuvering in Washington over Libya took place as Western officials

insisted their intervention was working and could be sustained, and as rebels

made advances on the road to Tripoli.

But after 10 weeks of air strikes against Kadhafi's forces and defections from

his regime, it remained unclear how long the Arab strongman could last out, and

whether the NATO-led mission would dislodge him.

In another sign of angst in the Capitol over the mission, anti-war Democratic

lawmaker Dennis Kucinich and a bipartisan group of nine other lawmakers filed

suit alleging Obama bypassed Congress in ordering the mission.

" Neither NATO nor the UN trump the Constitution of the United States, " Kucinich

said, adding later on CNN: " If it looks like a war, it's a war. "

Washington took a prime forward role in Libya after the UN Security Council

passed a resolution on March 19 allowing for air strikes against Libyan regime

forces in order to protect civilians.

But aides said that Obama was good to his word and pulled US forces back into a

support mission after an initial blitz of airstrikes and the operation is now

under NATO command with Britain and France the most active members.

But another senior US official told reporters on Wednesday that the mission was

going well, and had yielded important successes, and argued that Obama's

decision to launch military action had prevented a feared civilian massacre.

" The bottom line is that lives have been saved; Kadhafi's advances have been

stopped, the opposition and the Libyan people have had time and space to

organize, " the official said.

" Right now we see a situation in which time very much is working against

Kadhafi. "