Obama insists US action in Libya is legal

In a 30-page report to lawmakers, the White House argued that U.S. participation in the NATO-led assault on Moammar Gadhafi's forces did not require congressional authorization as the U.S. role was only a supporting one.

The report said the U.S. involvement in the U.N.-authorized operation did not rise to the kind of direct, offensive warfare that needed to be endorsed by lawmakers under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

A senior administration official added: “We are not engaged in any of the activities that typically over the years in war powers analysis has been considered to constitute hostilities within the meaning of the statute.”

The report also put U.S. costs at US$715 million for military and humanitarian operations in Libya since unrest began in the north African country earlier this year and the projected price tag through September is about US$1.1 billion.

The document was compiled after House Speaker John Boehner sent a scathing letter to the president warning that U.S. operations would be illegal come Sunday because they lacked formal congressional approval.

The War Powers Resolution gives presidents 60 days to get authorization for a military deployment and, failing that, sets a further 30 days to withdraw them from harm's way.

Republican leadership aides said that they were studying the report, which raised “creative arguments” that needed to be further explored.

The administration said that the while it did not believe that it required formal authorization for the Libya operation, it would welcome a statement of support for the mission.

Political maneuvering in Washington over Libya took place as Western officials insisted their intervention was working and could be sustained, and as rebels made advances on the road to Tripoli.

But after 10 weeks of air strikes against Gadhafi's forces and defections from his regime, it remained unclear how long the Arab strongman could last out, and whether the NATO-led mission would dislodge him.

In another sign of angst in the Capitol over the mission, anti-war Democratic lawmaker Dennis Kucinich and a bipartisan group of nine other lawmakers filed suit alleging Obama bypassed Congress in ordering the mission.

“Neither NATO nor the U.N. trump the Constitution of the United States,” Kucinich said, adding later on CNN: “If it looks like a war, it's a war.”

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