Mr. Taylor said that as a matter of domestic law, the authorization did grant such authority if groups in those countries had affiliated themselves with the original Al Qaeda and became "co-belligerents" in the conflict.
"In accordance with applicable international law, the authorization of the use of force against a sovereign state can only be given by the Security Council of the United Nations.
Just last Friday, the president signed into law an authorization bill that blows up the sequester and increases spending by more than $500 billion.
But they were also at pains to try to reassure the British public that all three agencies followed British law, sought authorization from appropriate cabinet ministers, did not condone torture and had learned from their mistakes, both foreign and domestic.
"In accordance with applicable international law, the authorization of the use of force against a sovereign state can only be given by the Security Council of the United Nations," he said.
The US should conduct a holistic reappraisal of its laws and authorizations to balance privacy, civil liberties and surveillance across the public and private sectors, former National Security Agency director Bobby Ray Inman has told the Guardian.
So, Lamond argues, the law's authorization of coercive means is what makes it coercive, "irrespective of who is to carry them out" (Lamond 2000: p. 40).
Dubbed the "pooper scooper law", its authorization by the Board of Supervisors was covered extensively by television and newspapers in San Francisco.
Under the law's authorization, Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius issued a set of defined "essential health benefits" that all new insurance plans have to include.
U.S. presidents have been deploying troops unilaterally for nearly 20 years through a 9/11-era law, the Authorization for Use of Military Force.
