By David Swanson
President Obama on Monday said he would "never hesitate" to use the U.S. military "unilaterally" to defend "interests" and "values," including "maintaining the flow of commerce." Fear of exactly that led the founders of this republic to give Congress the exclusive power to declare war. James Madison did not believe any single individual could be trusted with such power: "The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast, ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace."

The UN and NATO's goal of disabling Gaddafi's ability to use military violence against the Libyan people deserves merit. Any tyrant who uses military forces to subdue and repress the indigenous population cannot be allowed to continue such despotic methods.

Libyan dictator Gaddafi's recent comment that external interference in his country's internal affairs would be 'illegal and immoral' can only be described as asinine when coming from a tyrant who has used live ammunition on his own people.