Limiting Use of Funds for Armed Forces in Libya
Floor Speech
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(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. KAPTUR. I thank Ranking Member Smith for yielding me the time.
I rise in support of this bill as well as the prior resolution, as it's better late than never. Here again, with Libya, Congress follows in the wake of a major executive branch military action absent congressional authorization.
I sent a letter to President Obama on March 22 regarding what was then called Operation Odyssey Dawn and have never gotten an answer. When one looks at the duration of U.S. military engagements in the Middle East, north Africa, and central Asia and what the future might bring, these are the longest wars and military actions in U.S. history.
Our Nation has fallen into deep debt directly connected to our expenditures of over $1 trillion in the past decade on wars that have not been paid for. Moreover, creeping defense commitments in that region and globally now consume over half of the U.S. discretionary budget annually. It is an astounding predicament 20 years after the end of the Cold War, as jobless Americans question whether our Federal Government even sees their plight.
We all know freedom is not free, but it is largely the American people that are bearing this military burden more and more each year. What is most striking is that other nations in the region in which we are fighting are simply not carrying anywhere near their fair share of the load of boots on the ground, nor have they measured up either in terms of putting their treasuries at risk. Unless an alliance of nations in that region fight for freedom themselves, they won't own it, and we can't transfuse it.
Sadly, compared to the moral justification for World War II, which historians termed ``America's most just foreign war,'' our Nation in the current period has drawn into resource wars in farflung places that history is likely to judge as morally indefensible.
The world is full of bad dictators, but it always seems the dictators America is most interested in are those that sit atop huge oil reserves. Libya has the world's ninth largest oil reserves and exports 1.5 million barrels a day.
I will be placing several articles in the Record that document Western Europe's dependence, as well as Canada's reliance, on Libya's oil investments and the Libyan President's threats to nationalize those investments, which even has affected China.
The West's utter and growing reliance on imported petroleum has twisted our foreign policy and crippled our domestic economy time and again.
As we import half of what we consume, until Americans clearly see our predicament, our Nation will keep repeating these same mistakes.
Let us be clear on the nature of the Libyan economy: 95 percent of its exports are oil; 80 percent of its government revenue derives from oil sales. Oil represents 25 percent of Libya's GDP and its most important industry. And Libya is Africa's third largest oil producer.
The major powers involved in this military operation have vast pecuniary interests at stake through the multinational oil corporations that operate in Libya, whether it is Italy, from which operations are being staged, and which gets 22 percent of its oil from Libyan operations through firms like Eni and Repsol, or Canada, whose NATO General is leading operations, while Canada's second largest corporation, Suncor Energy, has major oil operations in Libya.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. SMITH of Washington. I yield the gen tle lady an additional 15 seconds.
Ms. KAPTUR. An article I am submitting for the Record reports that ``Seif al-Island Qadhafi, the son of Colonel Qadhafi, warned that in the event of a civil war, Libya's oil wealth would be burned.''
One can see why the global powers took note. In fact, China lifted 55,000 of its oil workers out of Libya.
History will judge whether these resource wars and selective dictator deposals are justifiable. But the answer for America is to invest here at home and to restore America's energy independence and to extricate ourselves from all these foreign oil involvements.
March 22, 2011.
President BARACK OBAMA,
The White House, Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC.
DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA: According to information available from public sources, the United States participated, and perhaps has led, military operations against the government of Libya. Press reports indicate U.S. military engagement began at 16:53 GMT March 19, 2011 bombing commenced on targets including surface to air systems and other air defense infrastructure.
It appears four days of U.S. air and naval strikes inside Libya have destroyed strategic communications facilities, the military intelligence headquarters, and air defense systems. It is unclear how many lives, civilian and military, have been lost, or saved, in these Libyan operations.
Please provide a detailed description of the coalition of forces involved in these operations in which the U. S. has participated, its command and decision-making structure, and from the planning stage to execution.
Further, under which accounts of the U.S. Departments of Defense and State are these operations being funded? What level of funding does the United States expect to use in the operations in Libya?
Thank you for your reply.
Sincerely,
Marcy Kaptur,
Member of Congress.
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