Obama Adviser Defends Libya Policy to Senate

The New York Times reports:

The legal adviser to the State Department said Tuesday that the Obama administration might have been better served if its officials had consulted more closely with Congress on American involvement in Libya, but defended the administration’s position that it was not required to seek explicit Congressional authorization for the venture.

Repeating the administration’s position that the United States role in Libya is “limited,” Harold H. Koh, the legal adviser, testifying under sometimes frosty questioning by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that it was the administration’s first belief that it was not required to seek Congressional approval for the mission there under the Vietnam-era War Powers Resolution, which stipulates that presidents must end hostilities 60 or 90 days after notifying Congress of a military engagement, unless lawmakers authorize the operation to continue.

“From the outset, we noted that the situation in Libya does not constitute a war,” Mr. Koh said, calling the phrase “hostilities” an “ambiguous word of art” that did not likely apply in Libya.

“We do not believe the war powers 60 days automatic pull-out provision applies to the Libya mission,” he said.

He cited four factors — the lack of ground troops or significant non-air forces used for the operation; the lack of American casualties or significant threat of them; a limited risk of escalation and limited use of military means — as the central points of logic in the administration’s decision to essentially ignore Congress beyond providing largely perfunctory information.