President Pawlenty Would Confer With Congress Before Starting Wars, But Only as a "Courtesy"
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty claimed during a Q&A after his speech today at the Council on Foreign Relations that the War Powers Act doesn't apply to Libya, but that he would've spoken with Congress about starting a third war, just to be nice:
Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday that the War Powers Act "does not apply" to the U.S. intervention in Libya, but that he would have consulted with Congress anyway if he had launched the mission as president.
During a question-and-answer session following a speech on foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, Pawlenty said that he would confer with members of Congress "as a courtesy and gesture of respect," but that he does not believe congressional authorization would be required for such a mission.
To put Pawlenty's remarks in context, conservative leaders are, for the first time in over a decade, decrying the rise of "isolationism" on the right. Here's the reaction from the Truman National Security Project's Michael Breen to Pawlenty's speech:
"Governor Pawlenty got one thing right in his speech today: Conservatives are retreating from America's global leadership. From Libya and Afghanistan to development and diplomacy, isolationism is the new litmus test for senior conservative leaders. What they fail to understand is that if America won't lead the world, someone else will. In the middle east it will be Iran. In the rest of the world, it will be China. America has a special role to play and to retreat from it risks our security and our values."
