Over the past week, Michigan Democratic Party Senator Carl Levin has made numerous statements about the war, the majority of which come from Levin's discussion of a recently blocked measure that he proposed to withdraw some troops from Iraq by April of 2008. That proposal, largely reported as a measure that called for the "withdrawal" of United States soldiers from Iraq, would have left an unknown number of soldiers in Iraq to conducted unspecified operations to combat "terrorism" in Iraq.
In explaining his support for this proposal, Levin has made it clear that his concern lies more with maintaining the United States' imperial power, rather than demonstrating a genuine concern for the Iraqi people. For the past several years, Levin's statements (1, 2) have repeatedly called for the Iraqi people and government to make "difficult" political decisions while asking little of the United States, who ultimately bears responsibility for the current situation and violence in Iraq. In a recent statement on July 20 titled "The Only Hope for Iraq," Levin blamed the violence in Iraq on Iraqi leaders, charging that Iraqi leaders "dawdle" rather than address the bloodshed in Iraq:
Our brave servicemen and women are dying and being wounded while Iraqi leaders dither.... Ending our open-ended commitment is the only way that we can force the Iraqi leaders to make the necessary political compromises. That is the only hope for success in Iraq.
In the statement, Levin assigns all responsibility to the Iraqi leaders, rather than considering the United States' role as an occupying force and how that might motivate a violent reaction from those living under the indignities of a military occupation.
In a floor statement on the measure made on July 18, Levin asserted that withdrawing United States troops from Iraq was the only way that the United States could "force" "Iraqi leaders to act." Levin declared that "just about everybody now agrees that there is no military solution in Iraq and that the only way to end the violence is for the Iraqi political leaders to settle their difference," again ignoring the role of the United States in motivating violence. Levin's comments, without addressing the origins of the "violence" in Iraq, promote the idea that the Iraqi people are predisposed to killing each other without reason.
Levin's assigning of blame exclusively to the Iraqis should raise concern in the antiwar movement, as should his recent comments on "the surge." In a "colloquy" with John Warner posted on his website, Levin spoke favorably about Bush's recent escalation of the war:
Even though I had misgivings about the surge, I put those aside once the President had made a decision to go forward. I wish to support the troops, and they are carrying out this mission. I think there is a strong chance there will be some measure of achievement of the surge militarily.
Of course, there are have been no indications that "the surge" is making any kind of progress in Iraq, and indeed there has been talk that a much talked about report on the success of "the surge," originally scheduled for September, may not be ready until November.
