This week’s show looks at the expanding wars in Libya and Afghanistan – How the Obama administration fiddles the numbers and violates the constitution.
Tonight’s Guests are Jules Lobel and Gareth Porter
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Jules Lobel:
Through the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights, Jules Lobel has litigated important issues regarding the application of international law in the U.S. courts. In the late 1980′s, he advised the Nicaraguan government on the development of its first democratic constitution, and has also advised the Burundi government on constitutional law issues.
Professor Lobel is editor of a text on civil rights litigation and of a collection of essays on the U.S. Constitution, A Less Than Perfect Union (Monthly Review Press, 1988). He is author of numerous articles on international law, foreign affairs, and the U.S. Constitution in publications including Yale Law Journal, Harvard International Law Journal, Cornell Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. He is a member of the American Society of International Law.
Quote:
“The House refusal to authorize the Libya war makes clear the president doesn’t have any authority under the Constitution or the War Powers Resolution to continue with the war in Libya.” Read the CCR statement
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Gareth Porter:
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005. We welcome him back to the Monitor to talk about the latest developments in the Afghanistan War.
Recent Articles:
Obama Leaves Door Open to Long-Term U.S. Afghan Combat
Ninety Percent of Petraeus’s Captured “Taliban” Were Civilians
You can read his latest articles here.
More reading:
The Los Angeles Times reports: “Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Obama’s choice to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told senators Thursday that the U.S. should consider a policy for using special interrogation techniques when a detainee is withholding information that is immediately needed to save lives.”
