Would Arming the Libyan Rebels Violate U.S. Law?

Firedoglake's Marcy Wheeler raises a very interesting question. Let's say the Obama administration provides arms to the Libyan rebels, a group whose ranks may include members of Al Qaeda. Would that action count as offering material support to terrorists?

After all, according to Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project any help to a terrorist group—even counseling on how to make peace—is material support. And no matter how we try to spin arming rebels as an act of peace, it's a good deal more help than legal counsel.

The American Prospect's Adam Serwer extends the line of questioning a little further:

If we start arming the rebels, some of whom may have ties to extremists, and some impressionable American Muslim goes abroad to assist them in battle, have they broken the law? Or are they just complying with the U.N. resolution to help protect civilians?

Watch Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie discuss the problems with Obama's "kinetic military action" below: