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American Morning
Interview with Sen. Carl Levin
Aired September 09, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats and Republicans predict that Congress will give President Bush the $87 billion that he has requested to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the approval process will not be easy. Law makers have questions and they expect answers about just how the money is going to be spent.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan is a Democrat. He also serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. And he joins us from Capitol Hill this morning.
Good morning to you, Senator.
Thanks for joining us.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense, overall, this $87 billion request, what do you make of that price tag?
LEVIN: It's a huge, stunning number. It's a very bitter pill to swallow because of the cuts that the president has proposed in important programs for Americans, such as after school programs, such as veterans health programs, such as programs which will help us build infrastructure. And now the president is saying $87 billion for Iraq after denying for months that there would be a significant financial cost or that our troops would be there for a long period of time. Now he's finally at least being candid on that issue.
But it is a bitter pill. There will be many, many questions asked. And I think the most important issue is whether or not we're going to be getting other countries to participate in the reconstruction in Iraq. And that's going to require us giving up some of that power, which this administration has wanted to keep over the civilian government in Iraq and give it to the U.N. administration, or at least a significant amount of it, so that we can get other countries to join us in paying these costs and taking on these risks and burdens.
O'BRIEN: Before we get to that, I want to ask you about all those programs that you just listed. There in itself is a bunch of reasons why not to go ahead and give in to this request.
So do you think anyone is going to say no in this?
LEVIN: On the reconstruction side, I think there's going to be a huge number of questions. Obviously, we're going to give our troops whatever they need on the military side. But when it comes to the $20 billion on the reconstruction side, there's a lot of questions.
Why does it take so long to go to the U.N.? Why the go it alone attitude of this administration, which is now, really, the chickens are coming home to roost on the go it alone approach of this administration in terms of both our troops being there, 90 percent of the troops taking these risks. They're our troops. We've got to go to the U.N. not just as window dressing. We've got to go and make a significant, full-fledged effort to share power with other countries if we're going to expect them to participate in the reconstruction, both financially and, even more important, frankly, with troops to share these risks.
O'BRIEN: Lots of questions, as you say, and also I've read that you are going to, along with some other senior Democrats, going to demand an accounting.
What specifically do you want to know?
LEVIN: What the specifics of these expenditures are. Right now we just have the raw numbers, the totals, and that's not obviously nearly good enough. But we're going to want to know what the specifics are and whether or not these contracts, for instance, which are going to be handed out or are going to be competed or not or whether they're just going to be handed out to the Bechtels of this world.
And there's a lot of questions that we have over, again, whether or not other countries are going to share these costs with us. What are the nations of the world, who also have a stake in success in Iraq, going to be paying to help bear these burdens? And that, again, is going to require going to the U.N. in a serious, significant way, which we have not done before. We've had a very go it alone attitude, a very unilateralist attitude, you're either with us or against us. If the U.N. joins us, fine. If not, that's OK, too. Let 'em come at us, we're ready for 'em all.
It's that kind of an attitude, which is now proving to be so costly, it seems to me, in terms of reaching out to other countries so that they will contribute and participate with us in a very costly adventure, but an adventure which must succeed.
We cannot fail in Iraq, regardless of one's position on how we went in and whether we should have gone in unilaterally. We now must succeed, and that's going to require the world joining with us.
O'BRIEN: So what if the world or elements of the world say, OK, we'll join with you, but in exchange, we're not going to do it unless we get some kind of authority?
Would you agree to that?
LEVIN: There ought to be it. Yes, of course we ought to share authority. There's -- this is not some prize that we've won. This is a problem that we have now taken on and we ought to welcome the world. Instead, it's been bringing this administration kicking and screaming to go to the U.N. For months we've been saying to this administration go to the U.N. before these problems arise.
Right now we've got a jihad issue going on there where we have a lot of terrorists coming into Iraq because it's been made out to be the West versus a Muslim country. It cannot be viewed that way. It's got to be the world versus these terrorists rather than just a few Western countries such as the United States and Great Britain taking on this task.
O'BRIEN: Senator Levin, I only have time really for a one word answer.
Will any money be forthcoming before you get those answers, that accounting?
LEVIN: On the military side, to support our troops, yes, we're going to give them what they need, it seems to me. Obviously they deserve it. It's on the reconstruction side, the money going into the reconstruction of Iraq that there's a lot of questions to be answered.
O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin is a Democrat from Michigan.
Thanks for your time this morning, Senator.
LEVIN: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 9, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats and Republicans predict that Congress will give President Bush the $87 billion that he has requested to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the approval process will not be easy. Law makers have questions and they expect answers about just how the money is going to be spent.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan is a Democrat. He also serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. And he joins us from Capitol Hill this morning.
Good morning to you, Senator.
Thanks for joining us.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense, overall, this $87 billion request, what do you make of that price tag?
LEVIN: It's a huge, stunning number. It's a very bitter pill to swallow because of the cuts that the president has proposed in important programs for Americans, such as after school programs, such as veterans health programs, such as programs which will help us build infrastructure. And now the president is saying $87 billion for Iraq after denying for months that there would be a significant financial cost or that our troops would be there for a long period of time. Now he's finally at least being candid on that issue.
But it is a bitter pill. There will be many, many questions asked. And I think the most important issue is whether or not we're going to be getting other countries to participate in the reconstruction in Iraq. And that's going to require us giving up some of that power, which this administration has wanted to keep over the civilian government in Iraq and give it to the U.N. administration, or at least a significant amount of it, so that we can get other countries to join us in paying these costs and taking on these risks and burdens.
O'BRIEN: Before we get to that, I want to ask you about all those programs that you just listed. There in itself is a bunch of reasons why not to go ahead and give in to this request.
So do you think anyone is going to say no in this?
LEVIN: On the reconstruction side, I think there's going to be a huge number of questions. Obviously, we're going to give our troops whatever they need on the military side. But when it comes to the $20 billion on the reconstruction side, there's a lot of questions.
Why does it take so long to go to the U.N.? Why the go it alone attitude of this administration, which is now, really, the chickens are coming home to roost on the go it alone approach of this administration in terms of both our troops being there, 90 percent of the troops taking these risks. They're our troops. We've got to go to the U.N. not just as window dressing. We've got to go and make a significant, full-fledged effort to share power with other countries if we're going to expect them to participate in the reconstruction, both financially and, even more important, frankly, with troops to share these risks.
O'BRIEN: Lots of questions, as you say, and also I've read that you are going to, along with some other senior Democrats, going to demand an accounting.
What specifically do you want to know?
LEVIN: What the specifics of these expenditures are. Right now we just have the raw numbers, the totals, and that's not obviously nearly good enough. But we're going to want to know what the specifics are and whether or not these contracts, for instance, which are going to be handed out or are going to be competed or not or whether they're just going to be handed out to the Bechtels of this world.
And there's a lot of questions that we have over, again, whether or not other countries are going to share these costs with us. What are the nations of the world, who also have a stake in success in Iraq, going to be paying to help bear these burdens? And that, again, is going to require going to the U.N. in a serious, significant way, which we have not done before. We've had a very go it alone attitude, a very unilateralist attitude, you're either with us or against us. If the U.N. joins us, fine. If not, that's OK, too. Let 'em come at us, we're ready for 'em all.
It's that kind of an attitude, which is now proving to be so costly, it seems to me, in terms of reaching out to other countries so that they will contribute and participate with us in a very costly adventure, but an adventure which must succeed.
We cannot fail in Iraq, regardless of one's position on how we went in and whether we should have gone in unilaterally. We now must succeed, and that's going to require the world joining with us.
O'BRIEN: So what if the world or elements of the world say, OK, we'll join with you, but in exchange, we're not going to do it unless we get some kind of authority?
Would you agree to that?
LEVIN: There ought to be it. Yes, of course we ought to share authority. There's -- this is not some prize that we've won. This is a problem that we have now taken on and we ought to welcome the world. Instead, it's been bringing this administration kicking and screaming to go to the U.N. For months we've been saying to this administration go to the U.N. before these problems arise.
Right now we've got a jihad issue going on there where we have a lot of terrorists coming into Iraq because it's been made out to be the West versus a Muslim country. It cannot be viewed that way. It's got to be the world versus these terrorists rather than just a few Western countries such as the United States and Great Britain taking on this task.
O'BRIEN: Senator Levin, I only have time really for a one word answer.
Will any money be forthcoming before you get those answers, that accounting?
LEVIN: On the military side, to support our troops, yes, we're going to give them what they need, it seems to me. Obviously they deserve it. It's on the reconstruction side, the money going into the reconstruction of Iraq that there's a lot of questions to be answered.
O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin is a Democrat from Michigan.
Thanks for your time this morning, Senator.
LEVIN: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
