Robert Gates Libya was not a threat to US

On "This Week," ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper asked Gates, "Do you think Libya posed an actual or imminent threat to the United States?"

"No, no," Gates said in a joint appearance with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "It was not -- it was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest and it was an interest for all of the reasons Secretary Clinton talked about. The engagement of the Arabs, the engagement of the Europeans, the general humanitarian question that was at stake," he said.

The Constitution prescribes the rules about how the United States is to enter a war, and the Obama administration has violated those rules.

The administration argues that the hostilities, because limited, do not rise to the level of "war," as the Constitution uses that word. But that position is almost surely wrong: Founding-Era dictionaries and other sources, both legal and lay, tell us that when the Constitution was approved, "war" consisted of any hostilities initiated by a sovereign over opposition.

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2011/03/28/obamas-libyan-operations-are-u...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• robert gates
• hilliary clinton
• libya
• obama

[yyparnell]

If I had a hero from amongst the mainstream-media correspondents, it would be Jake Tapper.

I am reminded of the heroic act the late Tim Russert performed on Hillary in a Dem debate during the 2008 primary. He asked Hillary a pointed Q: about drivers' licenses for illegal aliens, and her A: was the beginning of the end of her bid.

[LSRochon]

Wow..clinton just lied through her teeth......"authorized:" by who COngress?

[osocafe5]

W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)

[DickOPlenty]

i hate the american media but i have to admit, tapper ain't bad.

[Vlaxerman343]

@DickOPlenty makes me miss the old democracy, where people voted on EVERYTHING that came to matter

[DickOPlenty]

gates left out "oil" & "israel". who cares about the international community? who cares about the nature of the mission? the question is: is it constitutionally correct for a president to authorize this military intervention? it's almost as if the constitution & the american people don't matter anymore. the politicians do whatever they want. the american people have lost their power & most of the worthless media is just the govt's pro-war cheerleader. is just f*cking disgusting.