A shocking piece of contempt for democracy and the constitution from the secretary of state:
The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon ...Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who asked Clinton about the War Powers Act during a classified briefing, said Clinton and the administration are sidestepping the measure's provisions giving Congress the ability to put a 60-day time limit on any military action.
That's a gauntlet for anyone left in the Congress not in thrall to the emperor's growing power-grab. I fear, as Yglesias notes, that the Congress doesn't even want to exercize its powers or even go on the record ... because they're a bunch of pansy-ass losers. But I hope that some of them actually care about the Constitution (hello, Tea Party!) and fight back. If the Obama administration is refusing even to abide by the War Powers Act, then the Congress really needs to vote to defund their adventurism at least or impeach them if it comes to that. Going to war outside even the War Powers Act qualifies as an impeachable offense, it seems to me.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...
If the Peace Laureate is losing even starburst-seers like Sully, he's got issues.
The US, we now know, has been on the ground actively aiding and abetting the rebels for weeks in targeting and attacking the Qaddafi forces. ... when Obama says he rules out boots on the ground, it appears it depends whose boots we are talking about. Maybe the CIA agents wear shoes, rather than boots, in the desert - a Clintonian piece of bullshit that really needs to be called out..
... if the US doesn't just direct, aid and train the rebels on the ground, but actually takes the next step of arming them, then we might as well give up any pretense that this president - this president - is not involved in regime change by force of arms in yet another Muslim country. Libya will be Iraq II - even as Iraq I still continues. The man who campaigned against a dumb war will have launched an even dumber one.
To say that this is a betrayal of his candidacy and his supporters would be an understatement. It makes George Bush's request for a vote from Congress before committing the US to war in Iraq look like a model of democratic accountability. How dare this president commit this country to an open-ended involvement in a foreign country's civil war - in secret, with no real public debate and then presented as a fait accompli.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...
Yes We I Can!
And yet, it hasn’t been enough. The CIA presence hasn’t been enough. The close air support, including attack helicopters, hasn’t been enough. The defection of key officials hasn’t been enough. There’s obviously a ways to go here, but the trajectory is not what the coalition would hope. And before too long, someone in one of these planning rooms is going to say that the rebels need more firepower. And someone else will say that they need trainers to whip their ragtag army into shape. And maybe some Special Forces guys, some actual fighters, ringers if you will. And maybe a battalion. But just one battalion. After all, Gadhafi’s a murderous despot...
Turd sandwich, indeed.…
http://news.firedoglake.com/...
Now let all of the President's defenders take a big juicy bite.