Carl Levin takes measured approach on Iraq: 01/22/07
By Chris Christoff
Detroit Free Press
WASHINGTON — Others in Congress might criticize President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war with more flash than Sen. Carl Levin.
Some are running for president. The Michigan Democrat has never hinted he wants the job.
But there he is, like a dowdy professor in Washington’s beehive, using his clout as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and his methodical manner to try to derail Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
What with presidential politics, a new Democratic Congress and Bush’s much-anticipated State of the Union speech on Tuesday jangling the nation’s Capitol, Levin is leading the Democrats’ push to get the United States out of Iraq sooner than later.
He’s been in tough battles about military matters before during his 28 years in the Senate, but none quite like this.
“We have a war that’s lasted four years, huge casualties, a lot of pain and suffering, a president who’s stubborn and won’t listen to advice after the people gave him a wake-up call,” Levin said in an interview last week. “This is, as far as I’m concerned, the biggest thing I’ve been involved in.”
That’s saying a lot for the durable liberal who, since he left the Detroit City Council in 1977, has taken on presidents over expensive weapons systems like the so-called Star Wars missile defense, opposed the 1991 Persian Gulf War and voted against the Iraq invasion.
Levin feels so strongly about his opportunity to influence national affairs that recently he ended speculation and announced that he’ll seek re-election in 2008.
Find another way
A Washington fixture who’s considered studious, relentless and charming, if frumpy, Levin is taking a firm but measured approach to ending U.S. involvement in Iraq.
His reputation for studying issues before he votes or questions Senate witnesses gives him respect among his peers; they view Levin as a serious, no-nonsense figure to reckon with.
So far, he’s attempting to prod Bush without invoking such dramatic action as cutting off funding for more troops, or setting a firm deadline for U.S. withdrawal. Levin said besides nudging Bush, he’s sending a message to Iraqi leaders that the United States is out of patience and they must get their country under control.
Levin said the November elections that tipped Congress to the Democrats forced Bush to own up to problems with the war strategy. Likewise, he said, a bipartisan show of opposition in Congress could nudge Bush to a quicker withdrawal of troops.
“This puts tremendous pressure on them, even if the president doesn’t adopt it,” Levin said. “The Iraqi leaders have to get their political act together. We believe there’s not a military solution to this violence.
“When they hear we’re impatient and are not going to continue on the course we’re on — that they should be given notice and we start to leave in four to six months — I think it will have an impact.”
That could be effective to a point, said Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He called Levin a smart, serious and charming legislator who often acts in a nonpartisan manner, in the tradition of the Armed Services Committee.
But O’Hanlon said that while Levin offers a strategic out for Bush to withdraw, he should lay out a clearer plan of his own without appearing to abandon ship in Iraq.
“He owes no loyalty to the president, but he can be viewed as respectable even by Republicans,” O’Hanlon said. “If he wants to take that respect to another level, he’s going to have to do a little more.
“If he really wants to join the past giants of the committee — people like Sam Nunn and John McCain — declare Bush’s policy dead and figure out a responsible alternative.”
Opposing the surge
Now that Democrats have claimed a Senate majority, Levin took over the Armed Services Committee on Jan. 12, without fanfare. Immediately, he held a hearing to grill new Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about Bush’s plan for sending more troops to Iraq.
The intense but orderly interrogation was in contrast to the fractious Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing two days earlier, in which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was flayed by Democrats and Republicans.
Peering over his half-frame glasses, Levin set the tone with a statement sharply critical of Bush, but not inflammatory.
Leading the support for Bush was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee’s ranking Republican and a leading 2008 GOP presidential contender.
Days later, Levin joined two other Senate heavyweights — Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska — in drafting a nonbinding resolution that opposed Bush’s surge strategy for sending more troops to Iraq.
Both Biden and Hagel are possible presidential candidates; Hagel is a Vietnam veteran.
The resolution says it is “not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq.”
It calls for transferring security duties to the Iraq government and police under “an appropriately expedited time line.” And it urges engaging other Middle East nations to help secure Iraq.
The resolution is expected to go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Biden chairs, this week and to the full Senate after that.
Looking for support
To some war critics the resolution is a toothless attempt to influence a president who shows no signs of backing down. But Levin is convinced Bush will listen because it has some Republican support.
Lawrence Korb, senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, agrees.
“It tells people around the country, around the world, that elected representatives in Congress — Democrats and Republicans — have turned against the president’s policies,” said Korb, the assistant defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan.
Korb said the resolution could be coupled with congressional action to restrict funds for the Iraq war or challenge Bush’s plans to use military reserves and the National Guard for multiple tours of duty.
“Slowly but surely, you’re tightening the screws,” Korb said.
Levin said he’s not antimilitary. He wants to use his position on the Armed Services Committee to upgrade the armed forces’ equipment and prevent the proliferation of nuclear arms around the world.
He’s said he won’t support an effort to cut off money to the war.
“We believe in the troops,” he said. “We believe in the troops so much, they’re entitled to a strategy that has a chance to succeed. The president’s strategy has been a failing strategy.”
He added, “My insistence is that we’ve got to find a way out of Iraq by putting more pressure on the Iraqis.”