By Sam Stein, Huffington Post

Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) thinks legal action against the Bush administration may be needed if the president pursues a long-term military presence in Iraq without Congress’ approval.

“I’m not convinced we don’t need to have a lawsuit ready,” Webb told the Huffington Post. “This is a classic separation of powers issue. I started to talk to people about this today.”

In recent days the administration has seemingly backed away from attempting to secure extended military-to-military relationship with the Iraqi government to replace a current U.N. Mandate. Webb and others — most notably Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Hillary Clinton — have pushed legislation that would restrict federal money for any such agreement unless it came in the form of a congressional treaty. And while a victory on that front seems within grasp, the possibility still exists, Webb warned, for the administration to ultimately circumvent congressional input.

“They are characterizing this as within the authority of the Executive Branch. They will wait to August when everyone is at the conventions, and leave it on our doorstep,” said the Virginia Democrat. “If the Senate hasn’t acted by then, they are going to announce an agreement between the Executive Branch and Iraq.”

(Original Article)