Sen. Carl Levin & the Convenient Surge

By Kyle-Anne Shiver and Lee Cary

An opponent of the surge in Iraq, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) is now calling for one in Afghanistan.

According to Bloomberg.com, Levin has stated in letters and face-to-face meetings with National Security Advisor Jim Jones that,

“Any further postponement” of a decision to support a surge in Afghan forces will hamper U.S. efforts to quell an insurgency in its eighth year.

In a May 19 letter, Levin was among 16 other Senators who “urged a doubling of Afghan forces” and cautioned against “taking an incremental approach” that “does not reflect the realities on the ground.

Is this is the same Senator Levin who, on August 22, 2007, stated,

“[T]here’s a continuing — as a matter of fact, I’d say a deepening — consensus that there is no military solution to the sectarian strife in Iraq, and that the only hope of ending that violence is political compromise between the leaders of the feuding groups.
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I believe that reducing the number of our forces provides the only hope of getting the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future, which is such an essential step for success in Iraq.

Levin stood solidly against the surge in Iraq. He co-sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1585) that would have removed US troops from Iraq by April 30, 2008. We were in the middle of a civil war, he argued.

During the Bush administration, he consistently argued that Iraq hadn’t attacked us on September 11, 2001. Technically, neither did the Taliban. But now he’s pro-surge.

Here’s a statement he made during the Bush Administration where “Afghanistan” has been substituted for “Iraq.”

If those Republicans who say they want a change in course in Afghanistan will vote for one, we can start bringing our troops home and force the Afghan political leaders to take responsibility for their own country. That is the only hope of success in Afghanistan.

Levin lacks consistency.