Top Pentagon and Justice Attys Advised President: End the War or Get Congressional Approval

Parallels Kucinich Analysis of War Powers Resolution
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Obama Overruled Pentagon Definition of War

Washington D.C. (June 18, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who along with 9 other Members of Congress has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the President’s violation of the War Powers Resolution regarding the war in Libya, today made the following statement after The New York Times reported that the Pentagon’s general counsel and the acting Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel advised President Obama that the war in Libya does constitute ‘hostilities’ as applicable to the War Powers Resolution.

Under the Pentagon and Justice Department's legal interpretation of the War Powers Resolution, the President, after May 20, would have either had to end U.S. involvement in the conflict, reduce the mission or get Congressional authorization to continue.

"From the very beginning, the Obama Administration has sought to circumvent Congress' Constitutionally-mandated and statutory-affirmed war power. It is very disturbing to learn that the White House deliberately proceeded to continue the war in Libya without Congressional authorization, even when it had legal advice from the Pentagon and the Justice Department that our actions in Libya do constitute ‘hostilities.’

“We have the makings of a Constitutional crisis when the President, who as a U.S. Senator acknowledged the duty of a President to come to Congress for permission to conduct a war, simply changes course on his interpretation of the War Powers Resolution and determines to conduct a war absent Congressional authorization, even when it is contrary to the best legal advice of the Pentagon and the Justice Department.

"Despite persistent U.S. drone missile attacks against Libya, the President has instead insisted that the U.S. is not involved in hostilities, which would mean Congress is not a factor. If a foreign nation launched drone missile attacks against the United States, I think we would agree such incursion would constitute hostilities. The deeper problem appears to be that the Administration is hostile to the Constitutional imperative of Congressional authorization for war. War is war, even if it is conducted by robots in the air," said Kucinich.

According to The New York Times, the Pentagon’s general counsel, Jeh C. Johnson, and Caroline D. Krass, Acting Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, both advised President Obama, a Constitutional law scholar, that our nation’s involvement in the war in Libya constitutes “hostilities.”

“This is a stunning turn of events in which politics has trumped policy, keeping this nation in a war in violation of the Constitution and our statutes,” said Kucinich. “An immediate remedy to this fiasco is needed. Congress must move swiftly to cut off funds for the operation.”

Kucinich reiterated his plan to propose an amendment to the upcoming Defense Appropriations bill that would defund the Libya war. "When Congress sees the lengths to which the Administration has avoided coming to it for approval, more and more Members of Congress will be prepared to take conclusive action to reclaim our constitutional responsibilities on matters of war and peace."

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