Senate Proceeding on Oct 1st, 2009 :: 2:10:10 to 2:21:45
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2:10:07 to 2:10:27( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: question general petraeus and others. mr. president -- madam president, i yield the the presiding officer: the se mr. levin: mr. president, i don't know if the unanimous consent cleared yet, so i will proceed to debateoth the mccain

2:10:10 to 2:21:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Carl Levin

2:10:28 to 2:10:48( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: amendment but also the a that i will be offering as though it is currently pending. because amendments will be voted the same time. first, to comment on the two statements that were just made by senator mccain, one has to

2:10:49 to 2:11:09( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: do with when did general petraeus testify relative to the iraq surge? this is a very critical point, because indeed did testify relative to the iraq surge, but he only testified after the decision was made

2:11:10 to 2:11:32( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: relative to that sur president of the united states. and the person who washe while the deliberive process was under way in the white house as to whher or not a surge should take place did testify, was not asked to testify.

2:11:33 to 2:11:53( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: there was the president of the united states during those three months when he was deliberating on whether or not to sur into iraq, to have commander come up here and testify right in the middle of that there was no resolution. there was no request.

2:11:54 to 2:12:16( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: there placed on the bush white house to have h then general casey in come up and testify about whether or not additional troops should be sent to iraq. and i have no doubt as to what the response would have been by president bush and his folks, which is we're in the middle of a d

2:12:17 to 2:12:37( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: took about three months. secretary gates has testified to this, has spoken about this three-month deliberative process, and we have gone back and checked. it was about a three-month deliberative process that the president then was engaged in. and the first thing that happened was that president bush announced this surge on january

2:12:38 to 2:13:00( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: january 10, 2007. then and only then did secreta gates and gen the chairman of the joint chiefs testify before the armed servicesommittee. and then and only then did gene the committee on january 23. the

2:13:01 to 2:13:23( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: those critical months, september, oct december of casey. and i think history records that he, as a matter of fact, opposed additional troops to go in to iraq. but there was no here to get general casey to come

2:13:24 to 2:13:45( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: to why he was opposed to p troops into iraq at the same time that president bush was considering whether policy which would send additional troops into we didn't do that. we didn't do it for a good reason. we didn't think it was appr

2:13:46 to 2:14:06( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: so my first comment has to do with whether or not the kind of policy that we adopted relative to the president of the unit president and undergoing the same kind of process as to whether or not additional troops should be sent

2:14:07 to 2:14:28( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: into a count what president obama is undergoi not the commander there now should be put in a position, which we did not put general casey we know what the bush white house would have been. there was no dou as to

2:14:29 to 2:14:49( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: the response would be. the president of the united states is thinking through whether to surge troops into iraq, his com general casey, was not called before us. we didn't have resolutions here saying call general casey in. those of us that opposed additional troops going into iraq probably had an ally in general casey, as history has

2:14:50 to 2:15:11( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: written, i sending additional troops. but th but there was no effort to pressure on president bush by having his commander in the field come before us in a public hearing and say that he was opposed to the very thing that the president of the united states was considering.

2:15:12 to 2:15:33( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: the was not put in that position novment commander should in that position, president is hearing from the commander as part of a deliberative process on the very critical issue of whether to send troops. a number of

2:15:34 to 2:15:54( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: have a hearing for general mcchrystal. my answer was, we should not do that at this time. there will be an appropriate time, madam pre there will be an appropriate time. the appropriate time is the same time that general petraeus was called in and that the chairman of the joint chiefs was called

2:15:55 to 2:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: in, which was after the decision and not in the middle of that deliberative process. so the white house is now undertaking a rigorous review of general mcchrystal's assessment of the situation and his approach in afghanistan. and by fuher on this, i've read

2:16:17 to 2:16:37( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: transcript of general mccredital on 60 -- general mcchrystal i have not sn the speech in london my good arizona referred to. but there's no mccredital to retain his advice relative to the resource

2:16:38 to 2:16:58( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: question, the troops question, which lies before the president. and i know what his response would have been had he been asked, which is that is between him and the but the very purpose of the

2:16:59 to 2:17:21( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: hearing the mccain resolution, the very purpose, is hearings on the resources or recommended for afghanistan. that is the is now under considetion by the presidentf the united

2:17:22 to 2:17:42( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: states. so we have now a president with his security team, including general mccredital who i yesterday with his responses. we have a president of the united states undertaking rigorous review of

2:17:43 to 2:18:05( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: mccreditamcchrystal's assessment. we've got the assessment relative to the situation in afghanistan that has already made public. what is now under is wheth there ought to be a change in strategy from the march strategy given the problems that have occurred in

2:18:06 to 2:18:26( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: afghanistan since the election, given the oh things whi taken place in neighboring afghanistan. and according to general mcchrystal himself, a policy debate is warranted. what he has said ain in his assessm

2:18:27 to 2:18:48( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: debate strategy before you, debate resources. he says resources are going to be needed whatever the strategy is. that's general mcchrystal's statement. there will be needed resources. general mcchrystal, "additional resources are required." th but it's the second half of his sentence which is ignored too

2:18:49 to 2:19:11( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: often, particularly in the media. after he says additional resources are required, without specifying what they are -- and that's left to this document which is now in the hands of president -- he says, "additional resources are required but focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely

2:19:12 to 2:19:33( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: the key takeaway, he said, f his assessment -- these are his words -- "is the urgent need for a significant change strategy and the way that we think and operate and ye

2:19:34 to 2:19:55( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: resources right -- that could come in the middle of a deliberative process. we're not sure whether november 15 that deliberative process will be completed. i have every reason to believe it will be by november 15 but we don't know. so the mccain ame,ndme arbitrary date. whether this deliberative process is completed by november 15 or not under this resolutio resolution -- and i'll be

2:19:56 to 2:20:16( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: offering an alternative to this -- under this resolution, he must come before appropriate committees an arbitrary date whether or not the deliberative process of the president of the united states is completed or not. but -- and it's on the subject, on the very subct

2:20:17 to 2:20:38( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: that is now under considerati,on by the president. and that subject is resources, troops. but listen to what general mcchrystal says. he said, yes, there's g be resources needed, without specifying what they are as far as we know -- at least the assessment that's

2:20:39 to 2:20:59( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: says, "new resources are not the crux. to succeed, isaf req approach with a significant magnitude of change in addition to a proper level of resources." so it's not the crux, he says,

2:21:00 to 2:21:20( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: strategy's the crux. but the mccain amendment says we want to hear from mcchrystal by a specific date whether or not decision on the crux of the matter which is the strategy. that's not me talking. that's general mcchrystal who is saying the crux of the matter is the strategy.

2:21:21 to 2:21:41( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: so now we have the white house and, by the way, i am happy to interrupt my comments at any time there's a unanimous consent agreement that has been reached and i don't ranking member or senator situation, but i would tell the -- so that everybody could

2:21:42 to 2:21:46( Edit History Discussion )

Carl Levin: know what the proceedings are here, that at any time there