On the recordJune 3, 2011
I thank the gentleman from California, our ranking member on Foreign Affairs, for the time. Madam Speaker, this is a very tough call, a tough set of circumstances. There is much complexity here with the convergence of war and diplomacy and geopolitics and allied relations. What is clear, however, is that the President has not communicated effectively with the United States Congress, nor has he sought this body's authorization for the undertaking in Libya. Let's have a brief history lesson here, though: Some in this body called for unilateral action against Libya just 3 months ago. That was appropriately resisted by this administration until other nations, particularly the British and the French, were willing to put up their own assets and give structure to a NATO coalition. However, now U.S. actions, in an important allied effort to save Libyan civilians from imminent slaughter, have clearly moved beyond the scope of humanitarian relief and stabilization efforts. With that said, an abrupt and imminent cut-off of U.S. participation in Libya causes numerous complications and would be highly disruptive. Yet we should not creep, we must not creep toward opening up a third front in Libya, which is the root cause of this debate. The general framework for intervention without express congressional authorization has precedent and some parallels within the last 30 years. Let's look at Lebanon in 1982, Panama in 1989, Bosnia in 1995, and Kosova in 1999.…
