Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Interview With Sen. Carl Levin

Aired September 26, 2003 - 07:34   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the issue of Iraq right now. The commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf, General John Abizaid, told Congress he was no longer counting on foreign troops to relieve American soldiers in Iraq. That leaves the Pentagon now no choice but to send active duty and National Guard soldiers to try and fill those gaps. The general testified to this yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Senator Carl Levin, ranking member on that committee, joins us live now from Capitol Hill.

Welcome back, Senator.

Good to see you there.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good being with you.

HEMMER: I want to run some of this videotape, if we can, in a moment here, about these soldiers coming back to Baltimore right up the road from you in Washington, D.C. What does this says right now about this effort to give some sort of R&R to the troops serving in Iraq?

LEVIN: Well, the decision apparently, or the conclusion of the leadership that they're not going to be able to get additional foreign troops in there is a real failure on the part of this administration in terms of internationalizing this war. We just simply have to get additional nations in there or else the stress on our troops is just going to be much too much and we've got to make a much greater effort to internationalize, bring in other countries, to tell the U.N. that we are willing to share power, the administrative power over the civilian reconstruction with the U.N. in order that other countries, such as Pakistan and Turkey, might be willing to send in their troops.

HEMMER: But back to the military question, though, what does it say about the difficulty in Iraq if you have to resort to the measure that we're seeing today, flying several hundred out at a time?

LEVIN: That it's far more difficult than they had thought it would be and that there was no plan for this kind of an aftermath that was in existence.

HEMMER: What happens now with the call-up? How many and when?

LEVIN: We don't know when that's going to be. That's going to be up to the Pentagon. Hopefully the president will make a greater effort to internationalize this effort at the U.N. What's the sticking point here is that this administration has been unwilling to share the civilian administrative decision-making authority with the United Nations. They want to keep all that power in the hands of Americans instead of sharing it and this is the price that we're paying.

HEMMER: Don't you think, though, just to be the contrarian in this entire argument here, that the United States, in essence, in Iraq right now, is saying we know how much we've done so far and we know how much further we need to go. It's not safe to open it up just yet and turn it over to the Iraqi Governing Council until we can fortify the situation, especially when it comes to security.

Why not buy that argument and trust the administrator on the ground in Baghdad?

LEVIN: Well, actually, even Colin Powell acknowledged that they're going to have to move a lot faster in Iran -- in Iraq, excuse me -- to adopt a constitution. For the first time yesterday, the administration set some deadlines for adopting that constitution and that at least, it seemed to me, was some good news.

But here we're not talking so much about the Governing Council in Iraq being able to take over the power. They don't have the army yet. They don't have the police. The question is whether or not we're going to reach out to other countries by being willing to give up some of the governing authority, some of the civilian decision-making to the United Nations so that we can attract soldiers from other countries such as, again, Pakistan and Turkey, and Muslim countries' contributions would be particularly important because this has been too much of an American effort. We're too big a target there for these terrorists and extremists.

HEMMER: You mentioned Colin Powell. He put a six month deadline on getting a constitution written. Plausible to you? Does that sound right?

LEVIN: It sounds important that he set a deadline. Whether it turns out to be exactly right isn't as important as that we have some goals. There's been no goals. There have been no goals. There's been no planning. It's been ad hoc, helter skelter on the part of this administration in terms of the post-Saddam period and we're paying a price today. The chickens...

HEMMER: But knowing how wars develop and knowing that you cannot predict so many things after any war, going back in the history of humankind on this planet, that some sort of adlibbing has to come into your plan and that's what we're seeing right now...

LEVIN: That's always true.

HEMMER: ... how do counter that?

LEVIN: That's always true. But here, for the last three or four months, we've been told by the international community if we want troops from other countries in there, we're going to have to go to the U.N. and be willing to share the decision-making power. Not the command of our troops. That can never be disunified or cut up. We must maintain the command of our own military forces.

But when it comes to the civilian reconstruction, we've been told for months that we'd have to share that power. This administration has not been listening to that at all.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

LEVIN: Sure, Bill.

HEMMER: Carl Levin again from Washington.

The debate continues.

Appreciate your time.

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 26, 2003 - 07:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the issue of Iraq right now. The commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf, General John Abizaid, told Congress he was no longer counting on foreign troops to relieve American soldiers in Iraq. That leaves the Pentagon now no choice but to send active duty and National Guard soldiers to try and fill those gaps. The general testified to this yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Senator Carl Levin, ranking member on that committee, joins us live now from Capitol Hill.

Welcome back, Senator.

Good to see you there.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good being with you.

HEMMER: I want to run some of this videotape, if we can, in a moment here, about these soldiers coming back to Baltimore right up the road from you in Washington, D.C. What does this says right now about this effort to give some sort of R&R to the troops serving in Iraq?

LEVIN: Well, the decision apparently, or the conclusion of the leadership that they're not going to be able to get additional foreign troops in there is a real failure on the part of this administration in terms of internationalizing this war. We just simply have to get additional nations in there or else the stress on our troops is just going to be much too much and we've got to make a much greater effort to internationalize, bring in other countries, to tell the U.N. that we are willing to share power, the administrative power over the civilian reconstruction with the U.N. in order that other countries, such as Pakistan and Turkey, might be willing to send in their troops.

HEMMER: But back to the military question, though, what does it say about the difficulty in Iraq if you have to resort to the measure that we're seeing today, flying several hundred out at a time?

LEVIN: That it's far more difficult than they had thought it would be and that there was no plan for this kind of an aftermath that was in existence.

HEMMER: What happens now with the call-up? How many and when?

LEVIN: We don't know when that's going to be. That's going to be up to the Pentagon. Hopefully the president will make a greater effort to internationalize this effort at the U.N. What's the sticking point here is that this administration has been unwilling to share the civilian administrative decision-making authority with the United Nations. They want to keep all that power in the hands of Americans instead of sharing it and this is the price that we're paying.

HEMMER: Don't you think, though, just to be the contrarian in this entire argument here, that the United States, in essence, in Iraq right now, is saying we know how much we've done so far and we know how much further we need to go. It's not safe to open it up just yet and turn it over to the Iraqi Governing Council until we can fortify the situation, especially when it comes to security.

Why not buy that argument and trust the administrator on the ground in Baghdad?

LEVIN: Well, actually, even Colin Powell acknowledged that they're going to have to move a lot faster in Iran -- in Iraq, excuse me -- to adopt a constitution. For the first time yesterday, the administration set some deadlines for adopting that constitution and that at least, it seemed to me, was some good news.

But here we're not talking so much about the Governing Council in Iraq being able to take over the power. They don't have the army yet. They don't have the police. The question is whether or not we're going to reach out to other countries by being willing to give up some of the governing authority, some of the civilian decision-making to the United Nations so that we can attract soldiers from other countries such as, again, Pakistan and Turkey, and Muslim countries' contributions would be particularly important because this has been too much of an American effort. We're too big a target there for these terrorists and extremists.

HEMMER: You mentioned Colin Powell. He put a six month deadline on getting a constitution written. Plausible to you? Does that sound right?

LEVIN: It sounds important that he set a deadline. Whether it turns out to be exactly right isn't as important as that we have some goals. There's been no goals. There have been no goals. There's been no planning. It's been ad hoc, helter skelter on the part of this administration in terms of the post-Saddam period and we're paying a price today. The chickens...

HEMMER: But knowing how wars develop and knowing that you cannot predict so many things after any war, going back in the history of humankind on this planet, that some sort of adlibbing has to come into your plan and that's what we're seeing right now...

LEVIN: That's always true.

HEMMER: ... how do counter that?

LEVIN: That's always true. But here, for the last three or four months, we've been told by the international community if we want troops from other countries in there, we're going to have to go to the U.N. and be willing to share the decision-making power. Not the command of our troops. That can never be disunified or cut up. We must maintain the command of our own military forces.

But when it comes to the civilian reconstruction, we've been told for months that we'd have to share that power. This administration has not been listening to that at all.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

LEVIN: Sure, Bill.

HEMMER: Carl Levin again from Washington.

The debate continues.

Appreciate your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com