From the beginning of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration has cited the 1973 War Powers Act as the legal basis of its ability to conduct military activities for 60 days without first seeking a declaration of war from Congress. The military intervention started on March 19; Congress was notified on March 21.
With his letter to Congress yesterday rejecting Congress's authority for continuation of his military activities in (or only over) Libya, Mr. Obama treads blithely beyond the Constitution on the flimsiest of pretensions.
"Intermittent warfare" is still war, Mr. President, and war isn't defined by the number of troops your side loses. Drones and aeriel bombardment are fulltime implements of war whenever they are used on another country's real estate and people. Ask Congress for a war authorisation Pres. Obama (or better yet, declare "victory" and re-deploy the military assets elsewhere), or spend the rest of your life fleeing from the questions posed by the relatives of those lost to your own Vietnam when this debacle-in-the-building inevitably grows to a scale that rivals that failure of US leadership.
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