Ron Paul: Obama’s Libya War Power Grab Impeachable

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com

On Friday, the U.S. House overwhelmingly rejected two unconstitutional resolutions pertaining to Obama’s attack on Libya.

The first would have authorized the attack for a period of a year. The second was peddled as a war limitation measure. It would have given Obama authority to continue not only the Libya attack, but other kinetic military actions currently underway.

“Mr. Speaker I rise to oppose this legislation, which masquerades as a limitation of funds for the president’s war on Libya but is in fact an authorization for that very war,” Texas representative Ron Paul said before the resolutions failed.

According to HR 2278, the US military cannot be involved in NATO’s actions in Libya, with four important exceptions. If this passes, for the first time the president would be authorized to use US Armed Forces to engage in search and rescue; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; aerial refueling; and operational planning against Libya. Currently, absent an authorization or declaration of war, these activities are illegal. So instead of ending the war against Libya, this bill would legalize nearly everything the president is currently doing there.

Paul said he would support any “straight and clean” prohibition on illegal authority to team up with the United Nations and NATO against Libya.

During an appearance on the Alex Jones Show on Tuesday, Paul noted that presidents have waged war without constitutional authority since Truman and the creation of the national security state. North Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, now Libya – all are illegal exercises of military power, Paul explained. Presidents now get token permission from Congress to start wars.

“I was surprised too see congressman [Jerrold] Nadler, a big Democrat, come out and say Obama is becoming an emperor just as you said weeks ago, [this would be] the last nail in the republic’s coffin if Congress lets the president not even consult Congress and say ‘my authority comes from the UN, I’ve done this for the legitimacy of the UN,’” Alex Jones said during the interview. “Sir, is that not sedition? Is that not treason? Is it not impeachable what president Obama has done with this whole Libya thing and now they are getting the whole ground invasion ready?”

“Sure,” Ron Paul replied.

If the appropriation bill passes, Paul warned, it will codify illegal and unconstitutional wars and increase the police state at home. The president would not be required to consult or get permission from Congress and the American people when engaging in military action against foreign nations. Dropping depleted uranium bombs and firing Tomahawk cruise missiles into populous cities is now described as “kinetic military action” and formal declarations by Congress are no longer required.

Following Dr. Paul’s appearance on the Alex Jones Show, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a wide margin passed the resolution backing Obama on Libya. The resolution supposedly bars the use of ground troops and expires within a year. Far too many congressional resolutions, however, are routinely violated, not excluding and not incidentally Obama’s previous limitation under the War Powers Act, itself an abrogation of the Constitution.