I posed a question yesterday: under what authority did we conducted air strikes in southern Somalia last Sunday? The best answer I’ve found so far is this (as reported in the San Jose Mercury News):
The transitional government endorsed the U.S. operations against the Islamists.
“The U.S. has the right to defend itself and bomb terrorists they say are responsible for the bombing of their embassies,” President Abdullahi Yusuf said in the Somalian capital, Mogadishu.
The embassies Yusuf referred to were the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which were bombed in 1998. The bombings are thought to have been planned by senior al-Qaeda leader Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, who was an intended target of the U.S. air strikes. No one has confirmed whether Muhammad or any other al-Qaeda members were killed in the strikes.
The strikes were part of an air-land-sea operation against al-Qaeda conducted by the U.S., Kenya, Ethiopia and the transitional Somali government. A press release at the Department of Defense says that U.S. Navy ships off the coast will stop vessels and search them for al-Qaeda terrorists attempting to leave Somalia.
According to the Boston Globe, a U.S. military official said that U.S. special forces accompanied Ethiopian troops into Somalia two weeks ago.
I suppose it’s legal for U.S. ships to conduct maritime intercept operations in territorial waters at a host nation’s invitation (generally speaking, “territorial waters” extend to 25 nautical miles from a country’s coastline), just as I’m pretty sure it’s legal for special forces to enter a country with that country’s permission. And U.S. Standing Rules of Engagement allow U.S. forces the right to defend themselves in all circumstances.
But an air strike is an offensive combat operation, and authority for that sort of thing has to come from the top of the chain of command.
War Powers
The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in September 2001 states:
That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
It doesn’t sound as if the al-Qaeda terrorists targeted in Somalia are suspected of having had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks.
The War Powers Act of 1973 was a joint resolution passed by the legislature…
…to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations.
The Act also states that:
The President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situation where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances.
Did Mr. Bush consult with Congress before ordering the air strikes in Somalia? No one I know of has answered that question. As far as I can tell, no one has even asked it.
The War Powers Act limits a president’s authority to commit U.S. forces to combat to 60 days without a declaration of war or specific authorization from Congress. Will Mr. Bush wait 60 days and the go to Congress and say, “Hey, y’all mind if I keep doing this?”
The Somalia issue has been jammed off the radar by anticipation of Mr. Bush’s impending “new way forward” announcement on the Iraq strategy. The timing of the Somali air strikes may be coincidental, but figure the odds of that being the case.
As I said yesterday, I hope that someone somewhere has worked out all the constitutional and statutory concerns regarding our Somali operations, and I hope that someone isn’t Alberto Gonzales.
If Mr. Bush has decided he has the authority to bomb any city, town or village in the world that he thinks a terrorist may be hiding in, the United States of America has become the world’s leading rogue nation.
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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at Pen and Sword.
More likely, David Addington in Cheney’s office has “worked out all the constitutional and statutory concerns” and Cheney has given Bush and Gonzales their marching orders.
In a recent daily press conference, Snow said that if Bush doesn’t agree with laws passed by congress, he has the authority to change those laws. I may not have his exact words quite right – but the meaning was explicit that Bush’s constitutional rights goes above and beyond the law of the land. Bush-Cheney doesn’t recognize any international law, for sure.
…dictatorial interpretations.
It really is shocking how completely acquiescent the media has become to even the most outrageous of actions.
What will they do if(/when?) Bush refuses to leave the White House in 2008?
We’ll see. The “big event” is fewer than three hours away .
Check out this Reuters report:
More here.
There’s more interesting stuff in this PBS transcript:
Reading between the lines, I can’t help but think talk of an al-Qaida cell there is more the EXCUSE, than the REASON, for our attacks. With a new government installed by a longtime ally, Ethiopia, isn’t it just possible our bombing was to rid the new government of opposition cells – al-Qaida or not, and to assert our backing for the tenuous, newly installed regime?
I just don’t believe for a second this is really about al-Qaida.
…The International Herald Tribune ran a piece titled “In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war” which stated:
The piece, ironically, defends the Islamic point of view. Bear in mind this is a very mainstream publication:
This does echo what soj wrote in her diary about the historical background of conflict in Somalia, though.
I highly doubt the Union of Islamic Courts is really connected to Al Qaeda — that’s just a convenient excuse. In the eyes of this Administration, any Islamic organization or group can be designated as “Al Qaeda” at the President’s whim, especially if they are led by Islamic clerics of any kind. But I see no evidence that the Islamic Courts are at all related to Al Qaeda, other than the link of Islam itself… which, given the number of Muslims in the world, is just a ridiculous assertion on the surface, and I certainly see no reason to take this Administration’s word as worth shit on this matter.
Basically, it appears that the Islamic Courts have considerable local support, were accepted by the majority of the local populace as a legitimate authority, had established a considerable degree of stability and order, and were not threatening anyone — least of all the security of the United States.
Yet another example of this president poking his nose and war machine in yet another culture where he understands nothing, and cares even less, so long as he can claim those who died were “terrorists.”
The US is a rogue nation… and unless this Administration is stopped, it can only get worse…
Soj’s diary is indeed a MUST READ on this topic!
From this AP story from ten minutes ago:
Like anyone believes Fazul Abdullah Muhammad was the target of these strikes. How convenient.