Koh Buck Song
Koh, Buck Song is a writer, editor and consultant in branding, communications strategy and corporate social responsibility in Singapore.
Is McCain Laying Out A False Choice That We Must Choose Either Obama's War Policy Or Isolationism?
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
It seems as if that is the case, given that John McCain has chastised those GOP presidential candidates who wonder how Libya posed a threat to the U.S., how Obama has grounds for claiming that the U.S. isn't even at war with Libya or how he can claim - through Harold Koh and Jay Carney - that "the limited nature of this particular mission is not the kind of hostilities envisioned by the War Powers Resolution." Obama is claiming that since U.S. troops are supposedly at little risk in this particular mission and that we have no boots on the...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
President Obama Rejected DOJ and DOD Advice, and Sided with Harold Koh, on War Powers Resolution
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
Charlie Savage has the amazing story that President Obama “rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization.” The Acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, Caroline Krass, and the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Jeh Johnson, advised the President that military activities in Libya constituted “hostilities” under the War Powers Resolution and thus Section 5(b) of the WPR required him to terminate or scale back the mission after May...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
Obama Is Trying To Redefine What Constitutes Warfare (US-Libya)
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
...With Harold Koh (legal advisor for the Department of State) and Jay Carney in tow - engaged in a game of semantics. Harold Koh recently said: "We are not saying the president can take the country into war on his own. We are not saying the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional or should be scrapped or that we can refuse to consult Congress. We are saying the limited nature of this particular mission is not the kind of hostilities envisioned by the War Powers Resolution." Problem is, is that the WPA does not make any distinction between one kind of...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
Will Harold Koh rap Obama's knuckles on multilateralism and bin Laden?
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
Who could forget leftwing furor over President George W. Bush’s prosecution of the War on Terror? From Code Pink to human rights wonks at the UN, Bush was assailed at every turn. There was a push to haul the US president before the International Court on issues like detainee interrogations, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and rendition. What a difference the Oval Office makes. Last time I looked, Gitmo was still intact. Furthermore, I'm betting if he'd been given a choice, as soon as he saw those Navy SEALs, Osama bin Laden would've screamed, "Rendition, please?" Now having rightfully dispatched...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
Obama Team Is Divided on Tactics Against Terrorism
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
Senior lawyers in the Obama administration are deeply divided over some of the counterterrorism powers they inherited from former President George W. Bush, according to interviews and a review of legal briefs. The rift has been most pronounced between top lawyers in the State Department and the Pentagon, though it has also involved conflicts among career Justice Department lawyers and political appointees throughout the national security agencies. The discussions, which shaped classified court briefs filed this month, have centered on how broadly to define the types of terrorism suspects who may be detained without trials as wartime prisoners. The outcome...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
Jim DeMint -What I Heard in Honduras
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
After visiting Tegucigalpa last week and meeting with a cross section of leaders from Honduras's government, business community, and civil society, I can report there is no chaos there. There is, however, chaos to spare in the Obama administration's policy toward our poor and loyal allies in Honduras. In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya's ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
Jim DeMint's Report From Honduras-->Obama Is Wrong
Posted by admin / Under Koh Buck Song
Soon after Former President Zelaya was deposed for trying to go around the countries constitution, the "Nobel Peace Prize winner" took a position against democracy, contra to the Honduras Constitution and on the wrong side of history. “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we...
Published on Friday 10th of February 2012 12:11:15 PM
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