According to the War Powers act, President Obama must get congressional approval for continued bombing of Libya.
His own Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) along with Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson, told Obama he needed congressional permission to continue participating in NATO operations against Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi's forces or withdraw.
Even though the advice of the OLC is binding upon the executive branch, the president is not bound to follow this advice.
As you may remember, President Bush went before congress and they voted approval for the war in Iraq (before they were against it
).
Regular procedure would be to have the OLC solicit opinions from different departments and determine which best comported with the law, and then follow the opinion.
However, taking a page from the Clinton play book, President Obama has engaged the White House Counsel Robert Bauer and State Department legal adviser Harold Koh, to provide a "re-definition" of the mission. By Friday we will be offered a new term such as "support services" or "humanitarian tactical coordination" to define the bombings, cruise missile attacks and drone strikes.
At this point we will no longer be able to refer to the "War in Libya" as a war. From that point forward it will be considered a form of foreign aid, like providing food for starving villagers. . . except in this case the food explodes and stuff.
This should be a fun exchange to watch. I am very curious as to how many of my liberal friends will interpret it.
They have already crafted the language:
"U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve the presence of U.S. ground troops, U.S. casualties or a serious threat thereof. . ."http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/06/16/us/politics/20110616_POWERS_DOC.html?ref=politics