A recently leaked United Nations report claims that the new rulers of Libya have committed numerous human rights violations: Thousands of people, including women and children, are being illegally detained by rebel militias in Libya, according to a report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Many of the prisoners are suffering torture and systematic […]
Archive | War and Armed Conflict
Assessing Obama’s Performance on Libya
Politico recently asked its Arena contributors whether the recent death of Muammar Gadhafi vindicates President Obama’s Libya policy: How much credit should President Barack Obama get for Qadhafi’s death and the tyrannical regime’s ouster? Does it vindicate the president over Libya mission critics like Rep. Michele Bachmann? My response is available here: President Obama deserves […]
The Decline of Conscription
Economist Joshua Hall has an interesting article describing an oft-ignored, but very important expansion of freedom over the last several decades: the declining use of military conscription. He notes that, as of 1970, some 80% of the world’s governments used conscription, including the US and many of the democratic nations of Western Europe. By 2009, […]
Radical Islamism and the New Libyan Government
CNN has an interesting article about Abdul Hakeem Belhaj, a radical Islamist who is a prominent leader of the Libyan rebels whom the US and its allies have supported against Gaddafi. Belhaj has a long history of association with radical Islamist groups, including fighting for the Taliban against the US (he fled Afghanistan after the […]
The Endgame in Libya
As I write this post, it looks like the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi is about to fall. Few will shed any tears for him. Gadhafi is a highly oppressive ruler and was for many years a leading supporter of terrorism against the US and others. The Obama Administration deserves credit for helping achieve […]
Debate on the Legality of the Libya Intervention at the University of Akron Law School
By Ilya Somin on August 22, 2011 11:30 am in Constitutional Law, Separation of Powers, War and Armed Conflict
This Wednesday at 12:15 PM, I will be debating the legality of the Libya intervention at the University of Akron Law School with Akron law professor Wilson Huhn. I previously wrote about these issues here, here, here, and here.
Audio of My Debate with Bryan Caplan on Libertarianism and Foreign Policy is Now Available
The audio of my debate with economist Bryan Caplan on libertarianism and foreign policy is now available here. Thanks to Chris Baylor for organizing and producing the audio, and to Bryan for posting it. Note that I had trouble downloading the file from Mozilla Firefox, but was able to download it easily using Internet Explorer. […]
Bloggingheads TV Dialogue with Glenn Greenwald
I recently did a Bloggingheads TV dialogue with Glenn Greenwald, a prominent liberal legal blogger. We focused on several ongoing legal controversies, including the debate over legality of the Libya war, the constitutional controversy over the debt limit, and recent developments in the War on Drugs. It turns out that there was a high degree […]
Debate on Libertarianism and Foreign Policy
On July 13 at 7 PM, I will be debating George Mason University economist and prominent blogger Bryan Caplan on libertarianism and foreign policy. The debate will take place at George Mason Law School, 3301 Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA, in Room 221. Bryan summarized his case for “pacifism” (by which he means opposition to all […]
Obama, the OLC, and the Libya Intervention
President Obama recently decided to continue the Libya intervention without congressional authorization, despite the advice of his own Office of Legal Counsel that this decision violated the War Powers Act. Commentators such as Bruce Ackerman and Jack Balkin condemned this decision, comparing it to similar actions by the Bush Administration. Balkin even dubs the president […]
The Growing Conflict Over the Legality of the Libya Intervention
A bipartisan group of ten members of the House of Representatives recently filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the US military action in Libya. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House John Boehner has sent a letter to the president stating that the Obama Administration will be in violation of the 1973 War Powers Act unless […]
The Return of ROTC to Elite Universities
By Ilya Somin on June 1, 2011 1:04 pm in Academia, Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), Military, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The LA Times has an article describing how ROTC programs have returned to many elite universities in the wake of the abolition of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy: Helped by the recession, more active recruiting and a sea change in student perceptions of the military, enrollment in ROTC programs on college campuses is booming. […]
Admiral Yamamoto and the Justification of Targeted Killing
The debate over the morality and legality of targeted killing has been rekindled by the death of Osama Bin Laden and shows no sign of stopping. But most of the debaters have overlooked a key point. If it is moral and legal to individually target uniformed enemy military officers, surely the same goes for leaders […]
George Mason Panel on the Legal Issues Raised by the Conflict in Libya
By Ilya Somin on April 4, 2011 11:28 pm in Executive Branch, Separation of Powers, War and Armed Conflict
This Thursday, I will be taking part in a panel on the legal issues raised by US intervention in the Libya, sponsored by the George Mason University International Law Society. The panel is entitled “Is There Any Law to Hold Us in Libya?” and will be held at George Mason University School of Law at […]
National Review Symposium on the Constitutionality of the Libya Intervention
By Ilya Somin on March 24, 2011 5:16 pm in Constitutional Law, Executive Branch, Separation of Powers, War and Armed Conflict
National Review has posted a symposium on the constitutionality of the Libya intervention. The symposium includes a large number of legal scholars and commentators, mostly conservative ones, as one would expect from a conservative publication. Interestingly, most of the participants reject the view (advanced by John Yoo and some others in the George W. Bush […]