Senator Levin active concerning Armed Services

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) gave an overview of the goals of the Armed Services Committee during a news conference today. The Committee will focus on several non-budget items this year, and according to Levin the plan is still to take the troops out of Iraq within the next 16 months.

One of the items on the agenda is a move to place Afghan troops on the border and place the border patrol under the ministry of defense. Another major initiative will be to take on acquisition reform with focus on the overrun costs of 300 billion dollars, the oversights on wounded soldier legislation, and taking advantage of the lessons learned from using security contractors. According to Levin, it is time to face the reality that there have to be budget cuts.

Sen. Levin also discussed the potential for working with Russia on missile defense in order to create an alliance against Iran. He said that if Iran can see the U.S. and Russia coming together that he ”can't exaggerate the power of such an impact.”

Levin voiced concern over the amount of private sectors that are performing governmental functions. He also warned that we have to be careful to not "Americanize" the Afghan army, like we did with Iraq.

In regard to the William J. Lynn III nomination for Deputy Defense Secretary, Sen. Levin stated that additional information has been requested and he still supports the nomination. Levin said that there is a strict set of rules applied to nominees, and that Lynn is no exception.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Flee, be captured, be killed, or be reconciled

Although there has been an estimated 40% increase in kinetic events, there has been a significant increase in capability of the Afghan Army, according to Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schlosser, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-101, and commanding general, 101st Airborne Division. They are hunting down the enemy of the Afghans, he said, and we give them four options: flee, be captured, be killed, or be reconciled.

The enemy of the Afghan peoples, Schlosser said, are attacking at the local level. Where the roads start, is where there is development, and therefore that is where they attack. School is now in session, and so students and teachers are being killed. The attacks are there to prevent improvement, and the attacks are deliberate attempts to halt the progress towards greater quality of life for the Afghan people. The enemy realizes that they are a negative, destructive force.

We’re making good progress, he said, and we’re clearly not done and we have not met irreversible momentum, but we’re making good progress. The “face of governance” for us, is the Afghan Army. We’re doing good things with the Afghan National Army, Schlosser said with a smile, and we’re getting into areas that we’ve never been in,. The Afghan people should see a quality of life improvement and therefore begin to support the government.