Levin: Let's Keep Funding the Iraq War

I'm still on hiatus, but I posted this over at Michlib:

Carl Levin is a phenomenal Senator and I'm very proud that he represents us.  He had the foresight to vote against the Iraq war at a time when it was hugely unpopular to do so, and has continued to provide unparalleled leadership as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee.  In particular, Levin has played a key role in demonstrating that the intelligence showing a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda was intentionally misleading.

No matter how proud I am, I'm not going to agree with everything that he says.  Yesterday on ABC's "This Week," Levin indicated that he would continue to fund the war in Iraq, even if the President vetoed a timetable for withdrawal.  Unfortunately, this undermines efforts to end the war responsibly.

"We're not going to vote to cut funding, period," Levin said. "But what we should do, and we're going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement."

The problem with this logic is that control over funding is one of the only ways that Congress can assert authority over the President on policy matters.  If Congress refuses to even consider cutting funding for the war, Bush will know that he can violate every benchmark and act with impunity.

"We're going to fund the troops. We always have," Levin said. He added, "We're very strong in supporting the troops, but we're also strong on putting pressure on the Iraqi leaders to live up to their own commitments without that political settlement on their part, there is no military solution."

Levin is reinforcing the idea that Congress, and not Bush, is cutting off funding for the troops.  Congress passed a bill to finally provide adequate body armor and VA care, so Bush is the one who would be harming them by exercising the veto.  By implying that Democrats are cutting funding, Levin is legitimizing Republican talking points and giving Bush all of the negotiating power.

Regardless of how this issue is going to be spun, Democrats were elected to do the right thing.  Please contact Senator Levin today and ask him to stop undermining efforts to hold Bush accountable and end the war.