PolitiFact-War Powers & Libya
Are U.S. actions in Libya subject to the War Powers Resolution? A review of the evidenceEditors’s note: We originally intended to publish this research as a fact-check, but as you’ll see, we decided it wasn’t a checkable fact. Did we make the right call? What would you have rated the administration’s statement? E-mail us at truthometer@politifact.com.
Our view
We agree that prior administrations have taken similar approaches as the Obama Administration in analogous situations. But just because the administration’s approach to defining “hostilities” has been allowed to proceed historically — whether for political reasons or for convenience — doesn’t mean that the definition is legally justified.The War Powers Resolution says it applies in any case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced “into the territory, airspace or waters of a foreign nation, while equipped for combat.” We don’t see the use of drone aircraft as an escape clause, since dropping bombs from a foreign nation’s airspace is a textbook definition of hostilities. And as we said earlier, the administration’s argument violates our standards of common sense, and we didn’t find one independent expert who whole-heartedly supported the claim that actions in Libya are not “hostilities.”
We’ll be watching to see how the president and Congress handle the issue in the days ahead and whether their actions produce an answer about whether U.S. actions are hostilities that fall under the War Powers Resolution.
Some may be interested in what factcheck.org has on this.
Link follows
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