WASHINGTON–The first congressional hearing on the military strikes against Libya will be next Wednesday, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton invited to testify.
UPDATE The hearing was changed to Thursday; Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg will testify END UPDATE
President Obama is facing criticism from Republicans and Democrats for launching the Libyan attacks without making clear the end game.
Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.) will hold the hearing, her spokesman Brad Goehner told me Thursday morning, in order to “assess the U.S. national security and foreign policy interests at stake in Libya, other actions being considered, and what this means for the broader region.”
Clinton has been invited to tesify; if she can’t make it, Ros-Lehtinen wants Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in the witness chair.
The full committee hearing is titled “Libya: Defining U.S. National Security Interests.”
On Sunday Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement, “I am concerned that the President has yet to clearly define for the American people what vital United States security interests he believes are currently at stake in Libya. We need to know what the President believes ultimately must be accomplished in Libya to protect and advance U.S. interests there.”
