The shores of Tripoli.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Comment - Column

President Obama has now involved the United States in a third war in the Muslim world. Let s e clear: He did so illegally. He did so hypocritically. He did so foolishly.

Before Congress held even a single hearing on the Libyan crisis, Obama sent a letter to the House and Senate that said:

"I have directed these actions, which are in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."

But actually, his constitutional authority does not extend to waging war, as Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution makes clear. That's the article that gives Congress the sole power to declare war.

James Madison was adamant about this. He said giving war-making powers would be "too much temptation for a man."

There's another reason why the founders left war-making powers in the hands of Congress: Senators and Representatives are closer to their constituents than the President is, and it's those constituents who will have to sacrifice life and treasure in wartime.

Kudos to Representative Dennis Kucinich for calling out Obama for violating the Constitution with his war on Libya--and for recommending that Obama be impeached for it. Finally, a Democrat with principle and spine.

Obama used to recognize the limits on Presidential war-making, back in 2007. Then he said, "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Libya does not pose "an actual or imminent threat."

But now that he's in the Oval Office and has the power, temptation has gotten the better of him.

In his speech to the nation on March 28, Obama stressed the humanitarian justification for the action, using the word "massacre" four times and other lurid language.

To be sure, this justification cannot be dismissed out of hand because there was a genuine risk that Qaddafi would engage in more brutality. But the United States was not motivated by humanitarian impulses, a fact that is not hard to demonstrate.

The Obama Administration escalated the war well past the time that it had secured the no-fly zone. It bombed Qaddafi's personal compound. And it sent the CIA to go in and arm the rebels, contrary to the arms embargo that the U.N. Security Council resolution had imposed. (In a speech on the House floor on March 31...