Appearing on the ABC News program This Week yesterday, Michigan Senator Carl Levin stated that he and the Senate would not vote to cut funding for the war. His comments were made in response to calls from the antiwar movement and a growing number of people in the Democratic Party who are arguing that voting to cut funding for the war could bring the occupation of Iraq to a rapid conclusion.
However, rebuffed the advocates of cutting funding and told host George Stephanopoulos that "we're [the Senate] not going to vote to cut funding, period." Levin accepted the premise laid out by the Bush administration that voting against funding the war would harm soldiers serving in Iraq, with Levin stating "we're going to fund the troops. We always have" and emphasizing "we're very strong in supporting the troops." However, numerous voices within the antiwar movement have challenged the myth that "cutting funding" harms the troops, including author Anthony Arnove and groups ranging from the American Friends Service Committee to United for Peace and Justice.
Senator Levin's comments on Sunday echo statements he made earlier this year when he equated "supporting the troops" with funding the war. In February on Meet the Press, Levin stated that:
Most of us do not want to cut funding for our troops for two reasons. One is it's wrong. Our troops deserve our support as long as they're there, and we're not going to repeat the mistake of Vietnam where we took out on the troops our differences over policies with the administration.
However, aside from the accepting the flawed premises of the Bush administration to argue his unwillingness to use Congress' power to cut funding for the war, Senator Levin reiterated earlier statements that the Iraqis must bow to the demands of the United States on Iraq. Levin also expressed support for a funding bill that would remove a date for beginning the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq. Levin told Stephanopoulos that the Senate "can keep the benchmarks part of the bill without saying that the troops must begin to come back within four months" and that the provision requiring the United States to begin withdrawing troops can be removed "because we're going to fund the troops" no matter what.
Senator Levin's comments will likely disappoint those in the antiwar movement, some of whom have praised Levin's work investigating the use of pre-war intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, Levin's refusal to seriously address the possibility of cutting funding for the war and comments earlier this year that the United States needs a plan to go into Iran and Syria, along with his record of consistently funding the war and not introducing any meaningful legislation to bring it closer to an end, will likely make him the target of ongoing antiwar organizing in Michigan. Already, Senator Levin has been targeted in Grand Rapids and around the state who have been urging him to oppose continued funding for the occupation of Iraq.
