US domestic reactions to the 2011 military intervention in Libya
Unlike the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, which were carried out largely without external intervention, the brutal reaction of the Gaddafi regime to the protests that began in January and February 2011 quickly made it clear that the Libyan opposition forces would not be able to achieve political progress or to overthrow their government by themselves.
With the support of NATO, the insurgents successively took power in Libya, gaining control over the capital, Tripoli, in August and over Sirte, the last city held by the Gaddafi regime, in October 2011.
With the insurgents taking control over most of the country and being recognized as the legitimate (transitional) government of Libya by much of the international community, a change in the Libyan regime has taken place.
[6][7][8][9] On June 3, the House passed a resolution 268–145 offered by Speaker John A. Boehner, calling for a withdrawal of the United States military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya.
It demanded that the administration provide, within 14 days, detailed information about the nature, cost and objectives of the American contribution to the NATO operation, as well as an explanation of why the President did not come to Congress for permission to continue to take part in the mission.
[11][12] On June 14, Walter Jones (R-NC) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced a lawsuit against the Obama administration, joined by 6 Republicans and 2 Democrats.
[17] Despite its failure to obtain legal approval from Congress, the Obama administration continued to provide the bulk of the military support for the NATO operation until the overthrow of Gaddafi in October.
[60] According to conservative political commentator Bill O'Reilly, the United States was right in partaking in the no-fly zone over Libya because "there is no question that Gaddafi was on the verge of slaughtering his opposition.
[67] An updated poll by the Pew Research Center found that a plurality of the U.S. public (47%) supported the airstrikes in Libya, although half of all respondents said the United States and its allies had no clear goal in their involvement.
[71] By the end of May, a CNN/Opinion Research survey showed a 48% disapproval of President Obama's handling of the conflict, a seven-point increase over a poll conducted in March.
[74] Some[75] have questioned the legality of the military action in relation to the War Powers Resolution and the United States Constitution, stating, for instance, that "[President Obama] abandoned the constitutional principles he carefully articulated as a presidential candidate in 2007 and ... [t]he decision to act unilaterally without seeking congressional authority eventually forced the administration to adopt legal interpretations that were not only strained, but in several cases incredulous. ...
[82] According to the War Powers Resolution, "The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.
It goes on to characterize them as "discrete and focused on employing unique U.S. military capabilities to set the conditions for our European allies and Arab partners to carry out the measures authorized by the U.N. Security Council Resolution."
On June 13, an ultimately expunged and largely symbolic amendment was added to HR2055 Archived October 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, stating that "None of the funds made available by this Act may be used in contravention of the War Powers Resolution."
According to Walton, the Supreme Court of the United States had already limited lawsuits against the executive branch: "While there may conceivably be some political benefit in suing the president and the secretary of defense, in light of shrinking judicial budgets, scarce judicial resources, and a heavy caseload, the court finds it frustrating to expend time and effort adjudicating the re-litigation of settled questions of law.
