From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Barack Obama's first new war.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

When President Obama gets back

from Central America, he'll have a lot of questions to answer, especially now that a U.S. plane

has crashed in Libya. The crew is safe, but Republicans and Democrats are asking,

what's the mission? Why wasn't Congress asked in advance? How long will this go on? Beyond that,

is there an overall rationale for intervention in one country versus another?

If Libya, why not Yemen, Bahrain, or the Ivory Coast? Is there an overall strategy that also

considers the impacts on Israel, Iran, North Korea, and the roles of the UN and NATO?

On a reporter's notebook later on, a federal appeals court approves the right to lie.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren. I'll knee back with To the Point. The intervention in Libya shows President

Obama being pulled in a multitude of different directions. Is there now an Obama doctrine in the

Middle East? What are the implications for U.S. policy toward the rest of the world? On reporter's

notebook, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out a federal law against lying about military honors.

The chief judge said, in his opinion, that living means lying.

First, this news update.

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