Is Barack Obama’s War in Libya Legal?

Original Publication Date: 6/18/2011

I was wondering how Barack Obama declared war on Libya without having Congress grant him the authority to do so? Even George H. W. Bush had to get congressional authority for war. Not that congress did much oversight.

Truth be known I don’t think any of the members of Congress have much to complain about since they themselves ran around with gas masks after 9/11 and left all of us out here to fend for ourselves.

So I guess Congress is rather helpless to stop Obama since they couldn’t even provide oversight during the Afghanistan War let alone the Iraq War. Had proper oversight been applied there might not have been an Iraq War. I should mention Obama was also in Congress when there was a failure to provide oversight for the Wars in the Middle East.

But we were promised peace and an end of war. Where is our prosperity and our new destiny? Why hasn’t Obama turned the page like he promised?

But a weak president needs to stay at war in order to maintain war time powers. USA will not be free to vote for their next president until the wars end.

And I am not the only one that thinks Obama needs Congress to transfer its powers to the executive for a war in North Africa. I would think Obama would know this since he is a constitutional lawyer. How did the executive get so out of hand?

Or is the executive acting as a counter measure for a multi national military campaign which its' clients big oil have already predetermined that Libya is to be emancipated from the influences of Kaddfi? The choices here are not good. We are involved in the conflict to attempt to salvage the people of Libya or we just let the other countries bomb the country to dust? What is for certain is that the USA will be blamed no matter what they do.

Strategically, there is no winning move here but the less of evils.

Hate the USA but there is a tremendous amount of humanitarian effort needed in the aftermath for the people of Libya. War is never simple nor is restoring order after a war. Libya was a NATO operation in which the Arab countries were highly involved.

Update 9/16/2013

This article barely received any attention when first published in 2012. Admittedly, the USA wants to support it's leaders but all of us should have been more vocal about the consequences of an illegal war in sovereign Libya. Now that the majority of the operation is over I can share with my readers that I have known everyone from the pilots who went in and bombed Libyia to the Oil Company conglomerates that wanted the oil rights of Libya. Sadly, those who attacked our diplomatic outpost didn't check the passports of the countries who attacked them. The USA was involved but by no means was the USA the sole country fighting in that campaign. As a matter fact, other countries, who shall remain nameless in this article were paid very handsomely for their part in that war.

What is abundantly clear is that the USA is always going to take the brunt of the punishment for all the ails in the world. Despite the fact that sometimes, if not always, it is it the USA who is the instigator. Usually the individuals who try and salvage whatever lives are always risk their lives to save others in war torn countries. They try and find some kind of balance in a war. I know the world does not bill the USA that way but we are always the first country everyone runs to for help

It was a mutual decision among Arab countries and Europe as well as the USA that Kaddafi was to be removed from power. I question the legality of it but there are Americans who went in to try and save as many lives as possible. This of course was abandoned when the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and the CIA annex were attacked by militias of Libya. This was predictable.

But because the USA is so good at keeping it's allies secrets and taking the brutal beating the world gives it's people daily no one knows of the humanitarian efforts by the USA. They do not break their silence and speak the truth. I don't blame the president for Benghazi. I don't blame the state department for maintaining their silence. Theÿ were being a good ally. Now we are all faced with chemical weapons being used in Syria. It is time all of those allies step up and come to the aid of the USA with Syria.

Poor allies is a national security issue.

The US State Department is making a significant financial contribution to the humanitarian aid for Libya when it can not even feed its' own people. Quite frankly, the generosity of the USA government is a contemptous to the people and I am not certain in this case it behooves the State Department either. What is the consequence for attacking a USA Embassy but more humanitarian aid?

EU member states and ECHO contribution to unrest in Libya

Donor

Commitments Total (cash and in-kind) €

In-kind Assistance (MIC/CECIS) Main items

SOURCE: EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Austria

1,150,000

Health kits, kitchen sets

Belgium

1,000,000

Plane for repatriation

Bulgaria

139,650

Plane for repatriation

Czech Republic

100,000

Denmark

4,844,690

Experts

ECHO

70,000,000

Estonia

100,000

Finland

2,850,000

Blankets, tents, medical team

France

2,942,584

Planes, vessels, medicines

Germany

9,913,861

Planes, vessels, sanitation

Greece

1,660,752

Hungary

51,200

Plane, experts

Ireland

1,000,000

Blankets, tents

Italy

4,001,971

Planes, tents

Lithuania

14,481

Luxembourg

1,077,700

Expert

Malta

430,949

Planes for repatriation

Netherlands

2,500,000

Poland

277,032

Slovenia

50,000

Spain

6,606,794

Planes, medical post

Sweden

15,861,391

Planes, tents, sanitation

United Kingdom

13,651,934

Planes, vessels

Total (before co-financing)

140,224,988

Co-financing requested by 8 participating states*

10,574,084

Transport co-financing requests

European Union Total

Surprisingly, the world caught on pretty quick with this one. I guess four dead Americans will do that along with 33,000 classified emails then Secretary Clinton has destroyed.

Fortunately, others have come to speak out specifically G.R.S. also know as The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. They have written a detailed account from their perspective and there has also been a movie made about their experience on the ground entitled; "13 Hours". Amazingly, still no mention of the other countries who were in their fighting with us? Oil should be very in expensive for a very long time in the U.S.A.

As a writer who also has operational information about what is going on overseas, I will not divulge information in my articles until after things have been declassified. It is not to mislead my reader but to preserve operational integrity. I did not believe that the war in Libya was a good idea or a legal one and it did turn out to be disastrous for our people in the Embassy. I will never quite understand why anyone would attack our Embassy's since their primary function is to conduct commerce with that country and provide visas to the USA. If there is no Embassy then their can be no legitimate commerce with the country in question therefore it becomes a free for all.

While I disagreed with the premise behind the war because it was not the real reason, I truly understand that the USA involves itself in conflicts because they attempt to serve as a counter balance and attempt to make the campaigns as surgical and quick as possible,.

I understand reader/audiences like pretty hubs but sometimes the content is more important then the general attractiveness. The debate about what we were doing in Libya was non-existent at the time we went into that country. I think I had forty people read this hub. With all due respect to everyone, we all should have been more vocal regarding this issue.

My information on Libya is it is still a disaster. The USA only had two choices one was bad and the other was worse. I should disclose I was offered a job at the state department in December of 2012 specifically to go to North Africa. How quickly the world forgets and blames. And I have never heard an American complain about another country ever. Perhaps we should all judge less and love just a little bit more.