Heck stands up to Obama on Libya war

Before he was elected to Congress in 2010, Heck served time in the desert sands of Iraq, as commanding officer of an Army reserve medical unit. But now, as a congressman, he’s introduced a resolution aimed at preventing U.S. forces from fighting any further in Libya.

Heck will be the primary sponsor of a resolution cutting off funds for operations in Libya under the War Powers Act, a controversial 1973 law that says while the president is commander in chief of U.S. armed forces, Congress still gets to decide when and where the nation goes to war.

And here’s the thing: Heck’s got a good point.

The War Powers Act, also known as the War Powers Resolution, limits deployment of U.S. forces into hostilities for 60 days, plus a 30-day extension, without authorization from Congress. It also requires the president to consult “in every possible instance … before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances.”

Obama didn’t consult with Congress, and he’s exceeded the 90-day deadline, which came Sunday.

More troubling, Obama reportedly rejected the advice of Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, as well as Caroline Krass, the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, whose opinion is usually legally binding on the White House. Both lawyers concluded that the act applies, since U.S. forces were engaged in hostilities.

Instead, the president chose to embrace the advice of his White House counsel and a State Department attorney, who risibly claim the U.S. isn’t involved in “hostilities,” since American forces are now mostly supporting the NATO-led attacks on Libyan soldiers. (Oh, and occasionally firing missiles from drones, which the Libyans sure as hell consider hostile.)

Heck, for his part, says he’s only following the Constitution.

“The president of the United States doesn’t get to decide what’s constitutional,” said Heck, who serves on both the Armed Services and Intelligence committees. “The president in my opinion has made a mistake. We should not compound that mistake by turning a blind eye.” It’s also a politically bold move for Heck, who’s still a colonel in the Army Reserve. With a foot on both sides of the separation-of-powers fence, we’re witnessing a senior officer stand up to his commander in chief to force a major change in war policy.

The move to de-fund the Libyan operation put Heck — perhaps uncomfortably — on the same side as liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. Kucinich opposes the war on moral grounds, and Heck voted against an earlier Kucinich de-funding resolution because it required too swift a withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Presidents from Richard Nixon — who vetoed the War Powers Act when it initially passed but was overridden — forward have all taken a dim view of the law, because it intrudes onto executive authority. But if the previous administration taught us anything, it’s that an expansive, unchecked view of executive power can lead to all manner of mischief.

Heck denies he’s simply picking on a Democratic president, although he also criticized the military intervention by Democratic President Bill Clinton into Bosnia. “The War Powers Act knows no party lines,” he says.

And while Heck denounces Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadaffi as “a despot” and acknowledges he’s fomented acts of terror around the globe, he argues the Obama administration has failed to make a case that it’s in America’s national security interests to be involved in Libya.

“That’s all I asked for from the beginning,” he said.

 

Steve Sebelius is author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SteveSebelius or reach him at 387-5276 or by e-mail at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.