A Blow to the President's War in Libya

On Friday, the US House overwhelmingly rejected the Obama Administration's military action in Libya. This comes days after Secretary of State Clinton openly voiced frustration over members of both parties' refusal to go along with the President and months after the White House first entered into this unnecessary and unconstitutional new war.

The New York Times reports:

Over the last few months, there has been increasing hostility toward the Obama administration in the House among both Democrats who oppose the war and many Republicans, who cite Constitutional issues, over the president’s refusal to seek authorization from Congress for the operations in Libya. They say such authorization is required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

Speaker John A. Boehner has repeatedly warned President Obama that the House considers the situation untenable and would seek to intervene through resolutions and its power of the purse.

The House then quickly moved to debate a second resolution, sponsored by Representative Thomas Rooney, Republican of Florida, that would prohibit the use of money for military operations in Libya, allowing financing only for support operations like search and rescue, aerial refueling, operational planning, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — essentially requiring an end to direct American combat activity like missile strikes. The measure, which has the support of Republican leadership, was intended to severely limit America’s role while not completely leaving NATO allies in the lurch.

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is not expected to pass such a measure and therefore it is unlikely to have any practical effect on the Libyan operations. Still, the measure would send a strong signal to Mr. Obama that he lacked full Congressional support, reflecting in large part a nation weary of war.

While there is still much to be desired in the effort to end the wars we wage, this is a positive action. We are finally seeing actors in both parties standing up and saying "enough is enough," opposing the warfare state. We who have long been part of the conservative/libertarian anti-war movement, should welcome those who are now seeing things our way and hope we can once again be peaceful nation that seeks national defense over military adventurism. We must, if we are to long endure.