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Kucinich: Opposition to War in Libya Growing
Congress Rebukes Administration on Libyan War; Sets the Stage for the Kucinich War Powers Act Vote Next Week
WASHINGTON
Today, the House of Representatives passed two amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that strongly signaled growing Congressional discontent with the war on Libya. The two votes set the stage for the upcoming vote on Kucinich's resolution to direct the President to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from military operations in Libya.
"Congress is not satisfied with the blank check that this administration has written for itself to conduct the Libyan war," said Kucinich. "Congress has made it clear that the Libyan war has not been authorized as required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act."
Today, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act by Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ) represented the House's first rejection of the war in Libya. The Garrett amendment clarified that passage of the Defense Authorization Act should not be interpreted as authorizing military operations in Libya.
Another amendment by John Conyers, Jr. (MI) set firm boundaries on U.S. involvement by prohibiting the introduction of ground troops in Libya.
"Congress has drawn a line in the sand. We will not stand for mission creep that puts boots on the ground in Libya. Further attempts to expand the Libyan war will not be tolerated," stated Kucinich.
Next week, the House is expected to vote on Kucinich's resolution based on the War Powers Resolution that would require the President to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from military operations in Libya.
Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.
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The US has carried out nearly 100 strikes in Somalia this year alone, with scant coverage by the corporate media.
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At least a dozen civilians—eight children, three women, and an elderly man—were killed in weekend bombings that local sources claimed were the latest of nearly 100 US airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation this year alone.
The Somali Guardian reported that the strikes occurred near the southern Somali town of Jamame in the Lower Juba region. In addition to the 12 civilians killed, nine others were reportedly wounded in the attack.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) acknowledged carrying out weekend "airstrikes targeting al-Shabaab," an al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group, near Jamame.
“Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” added AFRICOM—which earlier this year stopped sharing information about civilian harm caused by US attacks.
Somali Guardian reported that Danab, a US-trained Somali special forces unit, was also conducting operations in villages around Jamame. Danab often receives US air support while carrying out such missions.
The weekend strikes follow a Danab raid in Balcad district last week in which children were reportedly killed.
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Trump's record bombardment of Somalia has received almost no coverage in the US corporate media.
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The Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson School for International and Public Affairs says that the open-ended US-led war has left more than 940,000 people dead, upward of 432,000 of them civilians, in at least seven countries, since shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
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The attorney handpicked to prosecute President Donald Trump's enemies may have "tainted the grand jury proceedings" against former FBI Director James Comey by making multiple false statements, said a federal judge Monday.
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Despite her lack of experience, Halligan—a former contestant in one of Trump's beauty pageants—was plucked from obscurity to serve as the interim US attorney for Comey's home district after Trump pushed out her predecessor, who refused to bring charges against Comey due to lack of evidence.
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Fitzpatrick said his decision to open up grand jury materials in the Comey case came in part because of two "fundamental misstatements of the law" made by Halligan, that he said "could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process" and potentially rise to the level of "misconduct."
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He also said that a separate statement made by Halligan, which remains redacted, "may have reasonably set an expectation in the minds of the grand jurors that rather than the government bear the burden to prove Mr. Comey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, the burden shifts to Mr. Comey to explain away the government's evidence."
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Fitzpatrick also wrote that an FBI agent called to testify before the grand jury may have exposed information subject to attorney-client privilege between Comey and Richman, which he called a "highly irregular and a radical departure from past DOJ practice."
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