Webb Amendment Approved: No U.S. Troops, Contractors in Libya Now or After Qaddafi

Washington, DC—The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today approved Senator Jim Webb’s (D-VA) provision to prohibit funds to establish or maintain U.S. troops or private security contractors on the ground in Libya now or in the future.

“There has been a lot of discussion as to what it really means when we say no boots on the ground, but the question that has not been answered is what happens after Qaddafi falls--what do we do?” said Senator Webb. “This restriction applies to any future stabilization or peacekeeping operations following the removal of Qaddafi and during the transition to a new government.”

The provision adopted today with strong bipartisan support contains two exceptions: the immediate personal defense of U.S. government officials or rescuing members of NATO forces from imminent danger, or if the Congress enacts legislation specifically authorizing such action.

“This allows us to clarify this debate, and allows the Administration to come back to us if they have a different look at things in the future,” said Senator Webb in describing the second exception. “We cannot really predict what is going to happen in the coming months.”

With this important safeguard in place, Senator Webb voted in favor of S.J.Res. 20, a joint resolution regarding Libya.

Earlier today, Senator Webb challenged State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh regarding the Administration’s “contorted definition of hostilities” with respect to its refusal to recognize the War Powers Act.
“When you have an operation that goes on for months, costing billions of dollars, where the United States is providing two-thirds of the troops even under the NATO fig leaf or that is dropping bombs that are killing people, where you are paying your troops offshore combat pay and there is a prospect of escalation or a ground presence in some form or another once the Qaddafi regime expires –  I would say that is hostilities.” 

Senator Webb also questioned Mr. Koh about the prohibition on the assassination of a head of state. “There is a lot of talk up here about the way in which Qaddafi should exit,” said Senator Webb. “Nobody up here wants him to remain, but the moral standard that we set with others on issues like this is the same one that we should expect to be applied to us.”
 

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