Sen. Carl Levin, Military Strategist

By Semperpapa

There should be a prerequisite to be Chairman of the Senate Arm Services Committee: having an understanding of Military affairs beyond the political agenda and ramifications.

The honorable Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, Chairman of the Arm Services Committee, is being reported to have stated that President Obama must stick rigidly to his timeline of withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Sen. Levin, who has never served in the Military, is set to deliver some remarks to the Council of Foreign Relations, in which he is emphasizing that the only road to success in Afghanistan is for Obama to remain committed to the beginning of troop withdrawal by July 2011.
In his ever informed opinion, the only way to succeed in the war against the Taliban is to put the pressure on the Afghan Military and the Karzai government to get their priorities in order and begin now to plan for the day when the US troops will no longer be in that country.

His chiming in the issue is based on the statements, made by Gen. Patreaus and other high ranking Military officers, that the timeline is subjected to changes according to the situation in the field. According to Levin, regardless of the contingency at the time, Obama should nevertheless activate the plan of withdrawal.

Sen. Levin, who has been against any Military operation since the Revolutionary War, and the verdict on that one is still out, was a vocal opponent of the surge in Afghanistan ordered by Obama, just as he was opposed to the War in Iraq and the surge that President Bush ordered in that theater of operations.

This is really not a big surprise, as Sen. Levin, being the senator from Michigan, must consider the constituency of his electorate, so, considering that Michigan has the largest concentration of Muslims in the United States, it is not shocking that his position would be one of ending the war against Islamic radicals as soon as possible. Just another useful accomplishment on his resume.

The basic approach of Levin is that the American forces will stay in Afghanistan until July 2011 and HOPEFULLY the firmness of that date will induce the Afghans to take up the slack.
This is why to be the Chairman of Senate Arms Services Committee, there should be some sort of understanding of Military tactics.

What the man does not grasp is that a timeline of withdrawal has the exact opposite effect on this specific enemy.
All the Taliban has to do is wait the time out, while continuing to inflict casualties upon our men and women, which is a huge propaganda tool in their arsenal.
Among Islamic radicals, American casualties are the affirmation that the Americans are not winning the war, while among the American people it wears their patience thin.

What also escapes the pacifist Levin is the very nature of the Afghan people. They are people who are so entrenched in their tribal costumes that they look with suspicion at any form of centralized power. With a small minority of exceptions, the prospect of an American withdrawal translates in their further distancing from any sort of allegiance to any government in Kabul, because the Afghan people have to deal with the extremist forces of the Taliban on their own, without any hope for assistance from central authorities.
And this problem is compounded by the visceral corruption that pervades the political leadership of Karzai.

There is also the small issue of Pakistan. With the Taliban practically free to range and set up camp within its borders, and with the covert support for the terrorists at the highest level of that country’s leadership, America’s abandonment of Afghanistan is a recipe for disaster based on the instability of Pakistan’s government. The result of a Taliban destabilizing of the government of that country, considering the arsenal of nuclear weapons it holds, would be catastrophic for the region and for the rest of the world.
The prospect of the vacuum left by the departure of the American Forces is all that the Taliban needs to conduct an effective campaign of recruitment not only among Afghans, but also among Pakistani.
We have already seen the results of similar policy in Iraq. Months prior to the Obama scheduled withdrawal date of July 2010 for American combat troops from Iraq, al Qaeda begun a recruitment campaign in the Al Ambar province, while cleric Al Sadr in his Iranian hideout, has been working hard at undermining the political process in Baghdad.

If it was up to Levin, our troops would be withdrawn today, rendering the service of millions and the sacrifice of thousands absolutely worthless. Just as his behavior in the past has shown, Levin is continuing to do whatever necessary to usher a defeat for our Military. He will go to any extent to undermine the mission of our forces in Afghanistan just as he did for Iraq.

The type of approach Levin is advocating is one where Obama institutes a policy that we HOPE is going to work, even if all indications and realities are to the contrary. That may be fine if not for the fact that the gamble is made with the lives of our Service people and the security of our country.

But no fear, because the peace loving Muslim in Michigan will continues to support their senator.

As if America needed one more reason to return some form of sanity to our political leadership in November 2010, Levin just gave it to us. Taking the Senate away from the Progressives would mean that he would have to renounce his Chairmanship, and that would definitely be a positive thing for our troops and our Nation.

Just my thoughts!