Boy has Charlie Savage caused a headache for Barack Obama and Harold Koh. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had a hearing to grill Koh today, in part, because of Savage’s report that Obama overrode OLC, DOJ, and DOD lawyers in deciding that we are not engaged in “hostilities” with Libya and therefore he can blow [...]

I’m watching the Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s grilling of Harold Koh–either bmaz or I will post on that later. But Jim Webb just made a really important point. He noted that we have suspended, but not severed, our relations with Libya. After cornering Koh on that issue (and finally getting Koh to acknowledge that point), [...]

By my count, the OLC memo retroactively authorizing the bombing of Libya mentions the importance of UN or UN Security Council credibility nine times, including these two extended discussions. In prior opinions, this Office has identified a variety of national interests that, alone or in combination, may justify use of military force by the President. [...]

I’m going to have more to say about the Libya memo the Administration released yesterday. But I just wanted to point out something about the structure of it. Here’s the first paragraph: This memorandum memorializes advice this Office provided to you, prior to the commencement of recent United States military operations in Libya, regarding the [...]

Mark Hosenball, who yesterday broke the news that Obama had issued a Finding authorizing the CIA to operate covertly in Libya in the last 2-3 weeks, today says “intelligence operatives” were on the ground before Obama signed that Finding. U.S. intelligence operatives were on the ground in Libya before President Barack Obama signed a secret [...]

I consider this a wicked brain teaser: The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda. [...]

NYT’s food columnist Mark Bittman has given up food: I stopped eating on Monday and joined around 4,000 other people in a fast to call attention to Congressional budget proposals that would make huge cuts in programs for the poor and hungry. By doing so, I surprised myself; after all, I eat for a living. [...]