Despite his differences with Obama on Libya, McCain said this is no time for Congress to try to limit U.S. military action in the North African country. Doing so, he said, would demonstrate to Qaddafi, his inner circle, U.S. NATO allies, and all the world that "our heart is not in this, that we have neither the will nor the capability to see this mission through, that we will abandon our closest friends and allies on a whim."This is a fascinating time, when the Republicans and Democrats alike are split with regards to our way forward in foreign policy. Some presidential candidates sound isolationist; others are interventionist; others are trying to find implausible reconciliations between the two impulses.
...The law requires Congressional approval when the U.S. military is engaged in "hostilities" for more than 60 days, with a 30-day extension. The U.S. action in Libya has exceeded the three-month time frame, but the Obama administration has said it doesn't believe the airstrikes in Libya amount to hostilities because it does not involve U.S. ground troops and no U.S. servicemen have been killed in the fighting.
...McCain Tuesday said he agrees with Obama that the actions in Libya do not amount to a full-fledged state of war, but took issue with the administration's explanation that U.S. airstrikes in Libya did not amount to "hostilities," saying he found that explanation "hard to swallow." The implausible explanation, he said, as well as the administration's failure to seek Congress to authorize intervention in Libya months ago, has led to the full-scale House revolt against his Libya policy.
But McCain warned his Congressional colleagues - "especially my Republicans colleagues" - against taking any action that would limit the commander-in-chief's ability to declare and wage war. He reminded Republicans of the condemnation President Bush endured for launching the Iraq war - "the other side of the aisle savaged" Bush, he said.
"We were right to condemn this behavior then, and we would be wrong to practice it now ourselves, simply because a leader of the opposite party occupies the White House," he said. "Someday, a Republican will again occupy the White House, and the President may need to commit U.S. armed forces to hostilities.
"So if my Republican colleagues are indifferent to how their actions would affect this President, I would urge them to think seriously about how a vote to cut off funding for this military operation could come back to haunt a future President when the shoe is on the other foot," he continued.
There is no question that Obama's Libyan policy is patently unconstitutional. Nevertheless, there is also no question that all of American foreign interventions since World War II have been patently unconstitutional, for similar reasons.
The American Constitution is very clear and very plain on how these things are to be done. Congress declares war; not the President. No exceptions. But it is also very clear and very plain that the nuclear-weapons revolution at the end of World War II decidedly blew up this stable arrangement. For years now, particularly since the Vietnam War, it's been acutely-apparent that a new arrangement needs to be established. The War Powers Act is a step forward, but no President has ever fully-complied with it. Laws that are routinely-flouted do not help the situation. We need a new constitutional arrangement. We risk the future of American democracy if we don't get it.
If the GOP succeeds in wrapping Obama in paralyzing duct tape on foreign policy this week, that will be very, very bad for the Libyans, but the ultimate beneficiaries may be the Democrats, and the American people. The day is coming, perhaps not that far from now, when Democrats will similarly-wrap a warmongering Republican President and his Congressional colleagues in paralyzing duct tape. McCain wants to avoid that trap. It's a trap maybe we should yearn for.
For the moment, I support Obama. Giving Qaddafi an unearned victory will have severe consequences for our foreign policy. But there are worse things. If it means we permanently-slam the door on future Iraq interventions, then it's worth letting Qaddafi have his triumph.
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