Quotes Of The Day: The Democratic Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, Then And Now

“Whether we like it or not, the Balkans is an important crossroads. […] This is not the time to take risks in undermining those efforts. Those who insist on a debate at this particular moment should think again, or they bear the responsibility for the possible consequences of their actions.” — Democratic Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, Congressional record, March 11, 1999

“I don’t want to put a specific number on (how many troops we want to withdraw from Iraq) because that really should be left to the commanders who decide how many would be needed to carry out those limited functions. But we’ve got to–the issue we’re facing, the key issue is do we want American troops in the middle of a civil war. That’s the fundamental issue which we want to debate. We’ve been wanting to debate that for many, many weeks, but, of course, we were filibustered before.” — Carl Levin on Meet The Press, Feb 25, 2007

So, “(t)hose who insist on a debate at this particular moment should think again, or they bear the responsibility for the possible consequences of their actions.”

What possible consequences are those?

Demoralizing the troops? Check!
Emboldening our enemies in Iraq? Check.
Encouraging terrorist attacks against our troops and Iraqi civilians? Check.
Making it more likely we’ll lose the war? Check.
Convincing our enemies around the world we have no stomach for a fight? Check.
Emboldening Al-Qaeda? Check.

Carl Levin and the rest of the Democrats in Congress should be following the advice he gave way back in 1999.

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