U.S. House says NO to U.S. White House in Libya

House Members against foreign massacres, U.S. destruction

“We have been in Afghanistan for ten years at a cost of over a half trillion dollars, in Iraq for eight years at a long term cost of at least three trillion.

“Those who told us the war in Libya would last days, now want to extend it for another year at total cost of billions.

“It is surreal we could even be considering authorizing this war at a time when the government is collapsing in debt.

“Those who told us the war in Libya was to save civilians’ lives quickly switched to regime change with innocent civilians dying from NATO’s bombs.

“Prior to NATO assuming responsibility, we launched hundreds of cruise missiles and dropped tons of bombs on Libya. Since NATO took over, the U.S. has struck from the air at least 90 times, including drone attacks but these are not hostilities, claims the White House, so what business is it of Congress?

“We must put an end not only to the war in Libya, but we must put an end to the thinking that the Constitution is a doormat and that our constituents must simply bear the consequences of the misguided policies of this Administration without this Congress having any say whatsoever.

“Defeat the authorization for the war. Vote for the Rooney bill which limits the war and when we return let’s vote for a total cutoff of funds for this wrongheaded adventure.” [U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, June 24, 2011, on the House Floor http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentPrint.aspx?DocumentID=248640]

Excerpted by Carolyn Bennett from 
Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, http://clerk.house.gov/

FAILED

H.J. Res. 68: “Authorizing the limited use of the United States Armed Forces in support of the NATO mission in Libya”

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 493 FAILED by recorded vote: 123 - 295 (Roll no. 493) ECORDED VOTE June 24, 2011, 12:16 PM

Republican Democratic  Independent   Ayes Noes PRES NV: TOTALS 123 295   13

http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.aspx?day=20110624&today=20110625

Here are the 295 NOES:

Adams Aderholt Akin Alexander Amash Andrews Austria Bachmann Baldwin Barletta Bartlett Barton (TX) Bass (NH) Becerra Benishek Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Bonner Bono Mack Boustany Brady (TX) Braley (IA) Brooks Broun (GA) Buchanan Bucshon Buerkle Burgess Burton (IN) Calvert Camp Campbell Canseco Cantor Capito Capuano Carney Carson (IN) Carter Cassidy Chabot

Chaffetz Cicilline Clarke (MI) Clarke (NY) Clay Coble Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Conyers Costello Cravaack Crawford Crenshaw Culberson Davis (IL) Davis (KY) DeFazio          Denham DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Dold Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers Emerson Farenthold Farr Fincher Fitzpatrick Flake Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Frank (MA) Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Gardner Garrett Gerlach Gibbs

Gibson Gohmert Gonzalez Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (MO) Green, Gene Griffin (AR) Griffith (VA) Grijalva Grimm Guinta Guthrie Gutierrez Hall Hanabusa Hanna Harper Harris Hartzler Hastings (WA) Hayworth Heck Hensarling Herger Herrera Beutler Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Holt Honda Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurt Issa Jackson (IL) Jenkins Johnson (IL) Johnson (OH) Johnson, Sam

Jones Jordan Keating Kelly Kingston Kline Kucinich Labrador Lamborn Lance Landry Lankford Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Latta Lee (CA) Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Long Lucas Luetkemeyer Luján Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Lynch Maloney Manzullo Marchant Marino McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McGovern McHenry McIntyre McKeon McKinley McMorris Rodgers

Meehan Mica Michaud Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Miller, Geo Moore Mulvaney Murphy (CT) Murphy (PA) Myrick Nadler Neugebauer Noem Nugent Nunes Nunnelee  Olson Palazzo Pallone Pastor (AZ) Paul Paulsen Pearce Pence Peterson Petri Pingree (ME) Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Pompeo Posey Price (GA) Quayle Quigley Reed Rehberg Reichert Renacci Ribble Richardson Rigell Roby Roe (TN)

Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross (AR) Ross (FL) Royce Runyan Ryan (WI) Sanchez, Loretta Scalise Schilling Schmidt Schock Schrader Schweikert Scott (SC) Scott (VA) Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Serrano Sessions Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Southerland Stark Stearns Stutzman Sullivan Terry Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tierney

Tipton Tsongas Turner Upton Velázquez Visclosky Walberg Walden Walsh (IL) Waters Waxman Webster Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Womack Woodall Woolsey Wu Yoder Young (AK) Young (FL) Young (IN)

On Follow up measure, H R 2278,  concerning U.S. forces and NATO operation in Libya

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 494

H R 2278      RECORDED VOTE      June 24, 2011      2:00 PM
QUESTION:  On Passage FAIL

BILL TITLE: To limit the use of funds appropriated to the Department of Defense for United States Armed Forces in support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation Unified Protector with respect to Libya,  unless otherwise specifically authorized by law, 494 June 24, 2011 H R 2278 

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/index.asp

SUMMARY AS OF: 6/22/2011--Introduced.

“Prohibits, unless otherwise specifically authorized by law, funds appropriated or otherwise available to the Department of Defense (DOD) from being obligated or expended for U.S. Armed Forces in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation Unified Protector with respect to Libya, except for: (1) search and rescue; (2) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; (3) aerial refueling; and (4) operational planning.”

Sponsor: Rep Rooney, Thomas J. [FL-16] (introduced 6/22/2011)      Cosponsors (None)

Related Bills: H.RES.328

Latest Major Action: 6/24/2011 Failed of passage/not agreed to in House. Status: On passage Failed by recorded vote: 180 - 238 (Roll no. 494).

H.R.2278

6/24/2011 12:15pm: Rule provides for consideration of H.J. Res. 68 and H.R. 2278 with 1 hour of general debate. Motion to recommit with or without instructions is allowed. Will be considered read. Bill is closed to amendments. The rule provides one hour of debate on H.J.Res. 68 with 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Armed Services. All points of order against consideration and provisions are waived.

6/24/2011 12:18pm: DEBATE - The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H.R. 2278.

6/24/2011 1:35pm: The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.

6/24/2011 1:59pm: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

6/24/2011 1:59pm: On passage Failed by recorded vote: 180 - 238 (Roll no. 494).

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02278:@@@X

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR02278:@@@D&summ2=m&

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/index.asp

ROLL CALL

(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)

	Ayes	Noes	PRES	NV
Republican	144	89		6
Democratic	36	149		7
Independent
TOTALS	180	238		13

---- AYES    180 ---

Aderholt Akin Alexander Austria Barletta Barton (TX) Bass (NH) Benishek Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Black Bonner Bono Mack Boustany Brady (TX) Braley (IA) Buchanan Bucshon Calvert Cantor Capito Capuano Carney Cassidy Chabot Cicilline Coble Coffman (CO) Conaway Conyers Cravaack Crenshaw Culberson Davis (KY) DeFazio Denham DesJarlais Duffy Emerson Farenthold Farr Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Frank (MA) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Gerlach Gibbs Gibson Gohmert Gonzalez Goodlatte Granger Graves (MO)

Griffith (VA) Grimm Guthrie Hall Harper Harris Hartzler Hastings (WA) Hayworth Hensarling Herger Herrera Beutler Himes Hinchey Holt Huizenga (MI) Hunter Jackson (IL) Jenkins Johnson (OH) Jordan Kaptur Kelly Kingston Kline Kucinich Lamborn Latham Latta Lee (CA) Lewis (CA) Lipinski LoBiondo Long Lucas Luetkemeyer Lungren, Daniel E. Lynch Mack Marino McCarthy (CA) McCaul McKeon McKinley McMorris Rodgers Meehan Mica Michaud Miller (FL) Miller, Gary Murphy (CT) Murphy (PA) Myrick Nadler Neugebauer Noem Nunes Nunnelee Olson Palazzo

Petri Pingree (ME) Platts Price (GA) Quigley Reed Rehberg Reichert Renacci Ribble Richardson Rigell Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Rothman (NJ) Runyan Scalise Schilling Schmidt Schrader Schweikert Scott (VA) Scott, Austin Serrano Sessions Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (TX) Stark Terry Thornberry Tiberi Turner Upton Visclosky Walberg Walden Waters Webster Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Womack Woodall Woolsey Wu Yoder Young (AK) Young (FL) Young (IN)

---- NOES    238 ---

Ackerman Adams Altmire Amash Andrews Baca Bachmann Baldwin Barrow Bartlett Bass (CA) Becerra Berkley Berman Biggert Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blackburn Blumenauer Boren Boswell Brady (PA) Brooks Broun (GA) Brown (FL) Buerkle Burgess Burton (IN) Campbell Canseco Capps Cardoza Carnahan Carson (IN) Carter Castor (FL) Chaffetz Chandler Chu Clarke (MI) Clarke (NY) Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Cole Connolly (VA) Cooper Costa Costello Courtney Crawford Critz Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette DeLauro Dent Deutch Diaz-Balart Dicks Dingell Doggett Dold Donnelly (IN) Doyle Dreier Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Edwards Ellison Ellmers Eshoo Fattah Filner Fincher Flake

Franks (AZ) Fudge Garamendi Gardner Garrett Gosar Gowdy Graves (GA) Green, Al Green, Gene Griffin (AR) Grijalva Guinta Gutierrez Hanabusa Hanna Hastings (FL) Heck Heinrich Higgins Hinojosa Hirono Hochul Holden Honda Hoyer Huelskamp Hultgren Inslee Israel Issa Jackson Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Johnson, Sam Jones Keating Kildee Kind King (IA) King (NY) Kinzinger (IL) Kissell Labrador Lance Landry Langevin Lankford Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) LaTourette Levin Lewis (GA) Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Luján Lummis Maloney Manzullo Marchant Markey Matheson Matsui McCarthy (NY) McClintock McCollum McCotter McDermott McGovern McHenry McIntyre McNerney Meeks Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller, George Moore Moran

Mulvaney Neal Nugent Olver Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Paul Paulsen Payne Pearce Pelosi Pence Perlmutter Peters Peterson Pitts Poe (TX) Polis Pompeo Posey Price (NC) Quayle Rahall Rangel Reyes Richmond Rivera Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rokita Roskam Ross (AR) Ross (FL) Roybal-Allard Royce Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (WI) Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schiff Schock Schwartz Scott (SC) Scott, David Sensenbrenner Sires Smith (NJ) Smith (WA) Southerland Speier Stearns Stutzman Sullivan Sutton Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thompson (PA) Tierney Tipton Tonko Tsongas Van Hollen Velázquez Walsh (IL) Walz (MN) Wasserman Schultz Watt Waxman Welch West Westmoreland Wilson (FL) Yarmuth

---- NOT VOTING    13 ---

Bachus Berg Butterfield Camp Engel

Giffords Gingrey (GA) Hurt Napolitano Ryan (OH)

Sewell Stivers Towns

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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When Congress fails to do its job

Bad precedent becomes bad law

Law Professor Jack Goldsmith on presidential and congressional powers and practice, law making and war making

Excerpt, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett

“… Almost all litigation seeking to resolve whether a war was properly launched has been dismissed as a ‘political question’ or because the plaintiff lacked standing,” Professor Goldsmith wrote at the start of the U.S. invasion of Libya. As a result, he continues, the political branches [Executive and Legislative] almost exclusively by practice have worked out the constitutional issue between themselves, not by the courts. That practice confirms that the president, under his commander-in-chief and other executive powers, has very broad discretion to use U.S. military force in the absence of congressional authorization.

Since the beginning of the Republic, Goldsmith says, “presidents have done this more than a hundred times in military actions large and small —

The largest and most consequential unauthorized military action is the Korean War launched by President Truman in 1950. Another big conflict without congressional authorization—and, indeed, in the face of an overt congressional vote that declined to provide such authorization—was President Clinton’s Kosovo intervention in 1999.

Some less significant unilateral uses of military force in the past 30 years include Haiti (2004), Bosnia (1995), Haiti (1994), Somalia (1992), Panama (1989), Libya (1986), Lebanon (1982), and Iran (1980). The executive branch has issued public legal opinions explaining the constitutional basis for most of these actions. …

“Critics will claim that a pattern of consistently violating the Constitution cannot remedy the illegality of these actions but that is not the right way to view this pattern.

“An important principle of constitutional law—especially when the allocation of power between the branches is at issue—is that constitutional meaning gets liquidated [purged, eliminated] by constitutional practice.

[A] systematic, unbroken, executive practice, long pursued to the knowledge of the Congress and never before questioned … may be treated as a gloss on ‘Executive Power’ vested in the President by § 1 of Art. II

Past practice does not, by itself, create power, but long-continued practice, known to and acquiesced in by Congress, would raise a presumption that the [action] had been [taken] in pursuance of its consent’ [Goldsmith quotes former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s opinion in Dames & Moore v. Regan]”

Congress asleep at wheel

“Congress has known about this pattern of presidential unilateralism for some time and done little in response,” Goldsmith continues to argue the obvious.. “[Congress] has never impeached a president for using force in this way. [Congress] has continued to finance an enormous standing military force in the face of this practice.

“[Congress] has done practically nothing by statute to push back on the president’s power to initiate military action with that standing military force.

“Not even the famous War Powers Resolution of 1973 does much to address the unauthorized initiation of force by a president. It requires the president to submit a report to Congress within 48 hours whenever armed forces are introduced ‘into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances.’ After the president reports the introduction of forces abroad, the resolution requires him to withdraw those forces within 60 days (or 90 days, based on military necessity) unless Congress has authorized continued operations.…”

War Three on Muslim country

“…It is unclear how, on balance,” Goldsmith says, “a third war in a Muslim country helps [U.S.] foreign policy goals. … It is hard to justify military action in Libya while the United States does not use military force in the face of brutal crackdowns by allies elsewhere in the Middle East. It was especially unwise not to explain this action to the American people in advance or to better consult with and seek formal authorization, or at least political support, from Congress. …

“… It does not appear that President Obama gave the issue of domestic political support much thought … This is an astonishing oversight — if it was that — from a man,” Goldsmith concludes, “who campaigned on the need for retrenchment and prudence in the use of U.S. military force.”

From Democracy Now's Tuesday headlines

NATO warplanes today Hit Tripoli with the Heaviest Bombing to Date — 

At least 15 air strikes struck the city earlier today, triggering massive explosions. The bombing comes as the United States and its NATO allies are throwing more support behind [anti-government forces]. The U.S. State Department’s top Middle East envoy, Jeffrey Feltman, has reportedly visited their headquarters in Benghazi. 

France and Britain have announced plans to deploy attack helicopters for operations against pro-government fighters. 

The Libyan government reported three civilians deaths and 150 wounded.

“Libya Campaign Could Violate War Powers Law” —

The Obama administration is facing questions over whether the U.S. role in the attack on Libya is violating federal law.  Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the President has 60 days to deploy the armed forces without congressional approval. 

The White House has maintained that it does not need congressional backing for what it calls a ‘limited’ operation like the Libya attack; but last week a group of Republican senators sent a letter to President Obama about the 60-day deadline, urging him to seek congressional approval. 

 “Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, the former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, says the Libya operation marks the first time any president has violated the War Powers Resolution’s provisions on either the 60-day window or on obtaining congressional backing.”

Sources and notes

“War Power — the president’s campaign against Libya is constitutional” (Jack Goldsmith), March 21, 2011, http://www.slate.com/id/2288869/pagenum/all/

Jack Goldsmith is the Henry L. Shattuck Professor at Harvard Law School, where he teaches and writes about national security law, presidential power, cyber security, international law, internet law, foreign relations law, and conflict of laws. Before Harvard, Professor Goldsmith served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel (2003-2004) and Special Counsel to the U.S. Department of Defense (2002-2003), http://www.jackgoldsmith.org/

Democracy Now Headlines, May 24, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/24/headlines#4http://www.slate.com/id/2288869/pagenum/all/

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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How many broken laws before Bill of Impeachment

Presidential penchant for war

“The Congress through the War Powers Act provided the executive with an exception to unilaterally respond only when the nation was in actual or imminent danger: to ‘repel sudden attacks.’ Today we are in a constitutional crisis because our chief executive has assumed for himself powers to wage war which are neither expressly defined nor implicit in the Constitution of the United States, nor permitted under the War Powers Act.” — U.S. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, House Floor, U.S. House of Representatives. March 31, 2011

Editing, re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett

Focus: Progressive Matthew Rothschild’s “In Libya War, Obama Shows Disdain for War Powers Act”

“Under the War Powers Act, the [U.S.] President has 60 days to get authorization from Congress for any military involvement. If he fails to get that authorization, he must end the involvement within 30 days.

“The 60-day authorization period expired on Friday [May 20, 2011].”

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday sent a letter to Congress seeking authorization.

“‘It has always been my view that it is better to take military action, even in limited actions such as this, with congressional engagement, consultation and support.

“‘Congressional action in support of the mission would underline the U.S. commitment to this remarkable international effort,’” the letter said.

The president confuses option with mandate. “Getting approval from Congress is [not] mere option; it is law under the U.S. Constitution, which U.S. presidents are “obliged to follow.”


In the face of this presidential breach, Matthew Rothschild points to a partisan-driven affliction, a selective silence that is contrary to the ends of the Republic, to a healthy functioning democracy, and to the public interest.

If U.S. Sen. John McCain, who was among Republican candidates for the U.S. presidency, “had been elected president in 2008 and had proceeded this way,” Rothschild writes, “Democrats would be up in arms. Progressives would be in the streets by the tens of thousands.

“But the peace movement is quiescent and almost all Democrats are silent (Sen. Harry Reid actually praised Obama’s consultation with Congress) — except U.S. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio). …”

Congressman Kucinich this week reiterated the charge he had made March 31on the House floor (inset above): that President “Obama’s Libya war is unconstitutional and a violation of the War Powers Act.…”

The congressional representative says that in a few days he will “introduce legislation to prohibit the president from continuing the Libya war.”

Sources and notes

“In Libya War, Obama Shows Disdain for War Powers Act” (Matthew Rothschild), May 21, 2011,

http://progressive.org/wx052111.html

U.S. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (b. 1946, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio) came to Capitol Hill in the One Hundred Fifth Congress and has been elected to seven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997- ). Before his elections to the U.S. Congress, Kucinich was a member of the Cleveland, Ohio, city council (1969-1973, 1983); clerk of courts, Cleveland, Ohio (1975); mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (1977-1979); and member of the Ohio state senate (1995-1996). In 2008, he was among the Democratic candidates for the U.S. presidency.

Kucinich holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from St. John Cantius and Case Western Reserve University. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000336 http://kucinich.house.gov/

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine. Several times a week, he contributes ‘This Just In’ commentaries at the magazine’s website; and keeps a running tally of civil liberties infringements in his ‘McCarthyism Watch.’ Rothschild is author of You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression, http://progressive.org/about

U. S. must immediately shift to end bombing in Libya

Four members of the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus

Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Mike Honda (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA).

March 22, 2011, statement on U.S. in Libya [posted March 23 at Raw Story]

“‘The decision for the United States to engage militarily in Libya is one that should have been debated and approved by Congress.

“‘We have serious concerns about whether or not an effective and thorough case for military intervention in Libya was made. Too many questions remain. What is our responsibility now? Do we own the situation in Libya and for how long? Where does this dramatic acceleration of military intervention end?

“‘There is a serious humanitarian crisis in Libya, and Gaddafi’s reckless, indiscriminate use of force on his own people in response to grassroots calls for change is unacceptable but there are serious consequences for rushing to war with a limited understanding of the situation on the ground and no exit strategy or plan. We learned this lesson through two ill-advised wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“‘With the potential for protracted civil war in Libya, and similar circumstances of unrest and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Yemen, and elsewhere, we cannot afford to sidestep critical diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to rely solely upon the deployment of more guns, bombs, and troops.

“‘This represents a dangerous path toward perpetual U.S. military engagement around the world.

“‘The United States must immediately shift to end the bombing in Libya. … We will fight in Congress to ensure the United States does not become embroiled in yet another destabilizing military quagmire in Libya with no clear exit plan or diplomatic strategy for peace.’”

“Progressive caucus splits on Libya, abandons joint resolution opposing intervention” (Sahil Kapur),

Wednesday, March 23, 2011, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/23/progressive-caucus-splits-on-libya-abandons-joint-resolution-opposing-intervention/

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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War makers’ drone effect cold blooded all round

Expendables cast over here, over there

Editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

“Despite a pledge to draw down the U.S. role in Libya,” Free Speech Radio News reported yesterday, “the Obama Administration has authorized the use of armed drones and the military says they’re going ahead with strikes” on yet another sovereign country.

Expendable — more easily or economically replaced 
than rescued, salvaged, or protected 

[Merriam Webster] 

Their EXPENDABLES

Drones are ‘uniquely suited for … urban areas where you can get low collateral damage.’

“Collateral damage,” FSRN explains, “is the well-known military euphemism for civilian deaths.”  Nevertheless, the military man says, though “‘we’re trying to manage … collateral damage, obviously, that’s  [drones are] the best platform to do that with; their extended persistence on the target …’” General James Cartwright of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was speaking Thursday at a press conference.

Those opposing the U.S.’s deepening and remote war on Libya point out that “the use of armed drones oversteps the U.S. role in Libya. Others point to the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan that has led to many civilian deaths” and raised the ire of Pakistani leaders and civilians. However, war makers’ continue casting expendables.

Our EXPENDABLES

“Only in America,” reporter John Grant writes this week in This Can’t be Happening, can someone in a flight suit in an air-conditioned room watch television screens following people unaware, going about their business 10,000 miles away. Then, on orders from another person sipping diet drink in another air-conditioned room, turn those distant human beings into exploded pieces of steaming flesh and waste. The drone monitor and the orders-giver then leave offices and drive home to dinner.

“Under the reigning myth of American Exceptionalism,” Grant writes, “whatever Americans do is right and good because they are Americans; and, more important, because they have the most lethal weapons on the planet, up to and including the R and D marvel  of the Afghanistan War: lethal drone technology.…”

The most critical aspect of the scene does not end with secret technology, he says. What is more troubling in this context is “the mental human condition of men and presumably women [our expendables] who must ponder the moral implications of their sanitized, remote brand of warfare. Though removed from the fray, drone pilots are still part of the tactical aspects of war.”  They and their physically vulnerable colleagues on the ground in Afghanistan are “doing their jobs”  — as are “insurgents” who see U.S. soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as “foreign” adversaries they want out of their country and are “doing their jobs” killing U.S. soldiers before being killed themselves.

The war makers’ drone effect is indeed cold-blooded all round.

Sources and notes

“Critics say the U.S. use of armed drones in Libya oversteps the UN mandate” News Segments Friday April 22, 2011, http://fsrn.org/audio/critics-say-us-use-armed-drones-libya-oversteps-un-mandate/8403

“Hedging, Delusion and Dishonesty in Afghanistan” (John Grant, Copyright © 2011 This Can't Be Happening), April 20, 2011, http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/571

John Grant is a writer/photographer living just outside Philadelphia’s city limits. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and has published in fiction and non-fiction.

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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