[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1951-S1953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LIBYA
Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in reaction to President
Obama's speech this week outlining what he believes to be in our
Nation's interest in Libya. Last week, while working in Nevada, many of
my constituents asked what my thoughts were on the military action we
have taken in Libya. My answer to them was simply that I did not
believe the President had outlined a vital U.S.-American interest in
our engagement in Libya, and that the United States cannot afford to be
the police force of the world.
This week, with the President's address to the Nation, I had hoped I
would hear something to change my mind or, better yet, something that
would instill confidence about the President's decision, but,
unfortunately, this address provided the American people with many more
questions than answers. President Obama left me wondering why any vital
U.S.-American interest in Libya would justify military action.
He said refugees would stream into Tunisia and Egypt, but we often
aid refugees without F-15s. He said we needed to preserve the writ of
the United Nations Security Council, but he did not explain why the
safety of our men and women in uniform should ever be put at the
service of that body. He said we needed to show dictators across the
region that they cannot use violence to cling to power, but if
President Obama's policy fails to get rid of Qadhafi, that is exactly
the lesson they will learn.
The President left me wondering about the definition of ``military
success.'' He said our military mission is limited, but how do we know
when we have hit our limit? Is it when Qadhafi poses no threat to
civilians? Is it when all of Qadhafi's thugs are gone, or is it when
Qadhafi steps down?
This week's address from President Obama makes it clear that we may
be headed for another decade-long military operation in the Middle
East. Our service men and women cannot afford to be engaged in another
Middle East dispute; they are stretched thin enough as it is.
This weekend, Secretary of Defense Gates said, when asked about
whether Libya is in our vital interest:
No, I don't think [Libya] is a vital interest for the
United States. . . .
So what are we doing? I understand the President may sincerely want
to
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save lives in Libya, but our country cannot afford to be the police
force for the rest of the world. We did not step in when there was
genocide in Darfur. As a matter of fact, there is a story today which I
ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From www.reuters.com, Mar. 29, 2011]
Darfuris Feel Betrayed by Libya No-Fly Zone
(By Opheera McDoom)
Khartoum.--People in Darfur watching how quickly a no-fly
zone was imposed on Libya by the United States and its allies
said they felt betrayed because U.S. President Barack Obama
had broken his promise to protect them in the same way from
government attacks.
The government in Khartoum is still defying a U.N. Security
Council resolution by bombing rebels in Darfur.
While Darfur was a foreign policy priority for Obama during
his election campaign, the festering conflict has fallen into
oblivion since his election.
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the
International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes in
Darfur, where the United Nations estimates at least 300,000
people have died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by a brutal
counter-insurgency campaign that began in 2003.
A prominent Darfuri leader said a no-fly zone would protect
civilians in the isolated region.
``Right now--forget in the past--right now what is
happening in Darfur is worse than in Libya,'' said Barouda
Sandal of the opposition Popular Congress Party. ``The air
force is bombing civilians and thousands are fleeing.''
Peacekeepers from the joint U.N.-African Union force this
week confirmed aerial bombardments in areas they visited and
said more than 70,000 people had fled fighting in the past
few months alone, swelling miserable camps already housing
more than two million people seeking refuge from the
fighting.
NO-FLY ZONE
During his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama backed a no-
fly zone in Sudan's west and tougher U.S. sanctions on
Khartoum. But once in the White House, his special envoy
eased the embargo and promised to remove Sudan from the list
of state sponsors of terror.
Washington was the first capital to label Darfur's conflict
genocide, infuriating Khartoum, which blames Western media
for exaggerating a conflict it describes as tribal. It says
10,000 people have died in the violence.
But quick U.S. intervention in Libya on humanitarian
grounds has provoked debate as to what is the standard for
intervention in foreign conflicts.
``The swiftness of the international community's response
to Colonel Gaddafi's bloody repression of the Libyan uprising
has surprised no one more than the diplomats involved,''
journalist Rebecca Tinsley wrote in the Huffington Post.
``At the same time it has left survivors of state-sponsored
massacres in Darfur, Rwanda . . . bewildered by our double
standards.''
The U.S. embassy in Sudan said Washington remained engaged
in Darfur, giving aid and supporting the peacekeeping
mission.
``It is not inconsistent for the United States to play
different roles in each vital international effort,'' it said
in a written statement.
Many Darfuris believe the quick military intervention in
Libya was because of its oil, rather than for humanitarian
reasons.
``We are astonished that over a few weeks about 1,000
Libyans have been killed and they went in, but in Darfur they
killed hundreds of thousands yet no one comes. And Darfuris
are feeling very bad about this,'' said Ibrahim el-Helu, a
commander from the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Darfur rebel
group.
``Hundreds of Darfuris are calling me, saying let them come
and drill for oil here if it means they will come and protect
us too,'' he said.
Mr. ENSIGN. The headline reads:
Darfuries feel betrayed by Libya no-fly zone.
We didn't step in in Darfur. We also didn't help the people of
Rwanda. The last time we did try to police a situation such as this was
in Somalia, and we all know how that ended.
That is probably why we haven't intervened in the Ivory Coast, even
though there are more than 1 million people who have fled their homes
and hundreds of thousands have crossed into neighboring countries.
Other nations such as France wanted to take the lead on addressing
the Libyan situation. I believe we should have allowed them to do so.
The President's address made it clear that our military action in Libya
is less about humanitarianism and more about realizing a
multilateralist fantasy.
While Secretary Clinton has continued to refer to S. Res. 85 as the
Senate's endorsement of the President's establishment of a no-fly zone,
I would like to point out to the American people that this talking
point is misleading. This is what she said:
The U.S. Senate called for a no-fly zone in a resolution
that it passed, I think, on March the 1st, and that mission
is on the brink of having been accomplished. And there was a
lot of congressional support to do something.
This Senate resolution received the same amount of consideration that
a bill to name a post office has. This legislation was hotlined. There
was no debate allowed, no legislative language provided to consider.
There was no vote. S. Res. 85 described a no-fly zone as a possible
course of action for the U.N. Security Council's consideration. It did
not instruct the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to take action,
let alone authorize a military operation. Using the hotline process for
this resolution as a congressional endorsement for the President's
policy is simply not an adequate use of Congress's role in authorizing
military action. The administration unilaterally developed, planned,
and executed its no-fly zone policy. The President consulted with the
United Nations, he consulted with NATO, he consulted with the Arab
League, but he did not consult with the body that is mandated under the
Constitution: the U.S. Congress. There was no congressional approval or
oversight of this military commitment.
The Senate resolution simply does not authorize or endorse the use of
force. It urges a multilateral body to consider a no-fly zone as a
possible course of action. This is not the legal equivalent of an
authorization to use force. This is not the political equivalent of
that authorization. So what is it?
I believe it is a disrespectful checking of the box for congressional
approval by the administration's unilateral action. As Secretary Gates
has stated, there is not a vital interest for our Nation in Libya,
which means now that we are engaged there, the United States is at risk
of mission creep and the possibility of a ``take two'' of what happened
in Somalia.
Before our military intervention, U.S. interests in Libya were
minimal. Our intervention has overinflated our interests in Libya's
civil war. If Qadhafi stays in power--and many believe he will--and
continues to fire on innocent civilians, demands for U.S. military
capabilities will go up. This sounds strikingly similar to what
happened in Somalia. Furthermore, this engagement has explicitly
announced our support for the rebel cause. Yet we don't even know who
or what these rebels are or what their ideology is. President Obama's
military strategy risks damaging our already shaky credibility in this
unstable region of the world. Even with complete military success,
President Obama's policy may appear to fail because he has disconnected
military means--a no-fly zone--from his strategic ends--Qadhafi's
removal.
The Obama administration has confused our priorities in the Middle
East. Operations in Libya divert our focus from unstable situations in
Syria, Yemen, and Iran, all of which are more important for U.S.
interests. Operations in Libya muddle our interests and undermine our
ability to lead across the region. If turmoil in Libya calls for a no-
fly zone, are we prepared to make the same commitments in Syria and
Iran, where we have far greater strategic interests? If not, what kind
of message does this send to reformers in those countries?
Last year, when there was an uprising in Iran, the President
basically said: Hands off. It is not in our interest. We can't do
anything about it. What kind of a message does that send?
Some have argued that oil is the underlying reason for our engagement
in Libya. Whether this is the case or not, the perception is there.
Instead of lessening our dependence on dangerous foreign oil, this
administration has steadfastly refused to allow the United States to
tap into its own oil reserves.
In Alaska alone there are three places that would supply the United
States with 65 years' worth of what we import from the Persian Gulf.
Unfortunately, as strongly as I believe in renewable energy, it is
going to take us 30 to 40 years for renewable energy infrastructure to
be up and running enough to start contributing significantly to our
Nation's energy supply, which is why we need to act to get
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more oil, natural gas, and other types of American fossil fuels into
our energy supply today.
I would argue that there is a vital U.S.-American interest to harvest
our own energy or we risk engaging in a military conflict every time
those in an unstable Middle East cannot get along.
This is absolutely a critical debate. There are legitimate
differences on both sides of the debate, but this is a debate that
Congress should be willing to have: whether the President should have
consulted and whether this is in our vital U.S.-American interest to go
forward.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). Without objection,
it is so ordered.
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