March 27, 2011

More on Obama and authority to commit U.S. forces w/o approval

More on Obama's stunning reversal of stated position from before the election to now, in Libya. This is a Q&A from December 2007, published in the Boston Globe:
Q: In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites -- a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)

Senator Obama: The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

***

As for the specific question about bombing suspected nuclear sites, I recently introduced S.J. Res. 23, which states in part that “any offensive military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress.”


Absolutely no one claims Libya was an imminent threat to the U.S. So either Obama has had a complete reversal of beliefs on this, or else was being utterly hypocritical.

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