If Bush's attack on Iraq was a "rush to war", what is Obama's attack on Libya?

I agree. George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq in 2003, with the full support of the U.S. Congress and majority support from the U.N. Security Council, Barack Obama launched a Tomahawk missile assault on the sovereign nation of Libya with no majority support in the U.N. and without even consulting Congress.

Acting alone while Congress was away on recess, solely at the command of the United Nations and without constitutional authority, Barack Obama dropped over $70 million worth of Tomahawk missiles on Libya -- a dictatorial maneuver to force a regime change in a foreign land. Under what authority did Obama green-light this dictatorial assault? To be certain, Qadaffi is no prize, but what Obama just did is nevertheless unacceptable.

Acting all alone in a truly imperialistic fashion, Obama violated his oath of office, Articles I and II of the U.S. Constitution, and the War Powers Act -- all in one mindless, knee-jerk decision. Article II, Section II http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constituti... of the U.S. Constitution identifies the U.S. president as the commander-in-chief and the civilian oversight of the U.S. military. But the clause gives the U.S. president no authority to use military might to enforce his political will upon foreign nations.

Article I, Section VIII http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constituti... of the U.S. Constitution bestows the power to declare war solely on the U.S. Congress. It requires both the commander-in-chief and Congress to commit U.S. troops to combat, without which any deployment of troops is wholly unconstitutional. The 1973 War Powers Act http://www.policyalmanac.org/world/archi... was put in place to prevent a U.S. president from doing exactly what Barack Obama just did.

""SEC. 2. (a) It is the purpose of this joint resolution to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations.""

A U.S. commander-in-chief can order use of military force under only three specific conditions: a declaration of war specific statutory authorization, or a national emergency created byan attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces. The U.S. Congress has not declared war against a foreign nation since WWII. But when George W.

Bush sent troops into Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil, not only did he consult Congress in advance, but he sought and received specific statutory authorization from Congress before ordering troops into combat. Bush complied with the Constitution and the War Powers Act under conditions (2) and (3). He also had a broad coalition of U.N. partners driven by years of U.N. resolutions defied by Iraq.

You should provide a quote where he claimed that the war in Iraq was unconstitutional. He didn't make the claim, because it WAS constitutional. Obama DID claim that the Iraq war was misguided.

And it was. It was a major mistake. The conflict in Libya is a UN-sanctioned NATO action.

The War Powers Act limits the Commander-in-Chief power of the US president to 60 days without seeking approval from Congress (very nearly up.) Prior to that 60 days, it is explicitly constitutional. After those 60 days, it is murky whether it is constitutional or not ... because the War Powers Act itself is a murky constitutional issue. But Libya very well MIGHT be misguided.

I'm just happy that this time, it's the British and the French being misguided instead of us.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.