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Levin: Obama needs to 'connect the dots' Tuesday.

Washington (CNN) - There is an overriding theme to Sen. Carl Levin's acceptance of President Obama's expected announcement that the United States will be sending upwards of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan: The chairman of the Armed Services Committee thinks the president's Tuesday night message to the nation must "connect the dots" between the added cost in American lives and a willingness of Afghan soldiers to start taking over more of the fighting.

"The nation's going to want to hear why this mission is important, (and) what is the relationship between any additional troops and success in Afghanistan," Levin told CNN.

"...If there's going to be additional [U.S.] troops, which obviously there are, what is the relationship between additional troops and increasing the size and capability of the Afghan army?"

Levin indicated he had been in contact with President Obama about the pending strategy shift late last week.

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Carl Levin's spokeswoman confirmed the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing next month on the controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing next month on the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, committee chairman Carl Levin's spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

The precise date for the November hearing hasn't been set yet, said Levin spokeswoman Tara Andringa.

The Michigan senator, who supports ending that policy, made the announcement after a Friday event marking the passage of a bill that extends hate crimes protection to victims assaulted because of their sexual orientation. "My hope is that we are going to find a way to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell," Levin said, according to AFP. The Armed Services Committee had previously announced it would debate the policy sometime this fall.

President Obama has faced criticism from the gay community for not moving forward quickly to repeal the policy. Earlier this month, at a fundraiser for a gay rights organization, he pledged to end the practice of discharging members of the military because of their sexual orientation, but did not give a timeline for when that might happen.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee responded Sunday to recent criticism from former White House hopeful Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, has lately suggested that the proper course for the United States to pursue in Afghanistan is to beef up the country’s own army and police forces before planning on sending in any additional American troops.

At a hearing of the Armed Services Committee last week, McCain took direct aim at Levin’s approach.

“Despite our successes in Iraq and the hard won understanding we have gained about what it takes to defeat an insurgency,” McCain said on Capitol Hill last Tuesday, “it seems we now, regrettably, must have the same debate again today with respect to Afghanistan. In all due respect, Sen. Levin, I’ve seen that movie before.”

“It’s a very different movie,” Levin said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, in response to McCain’s recent remarks.
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Democratic Sen. Carl Levin is challenging former Vice President Cheney's recent claims about the effectiveness of the Bush administration's use of harsh interrorgation techniques.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims - that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked - are wrong.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques - now deemed torture by the Obama administration - "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims."

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."

"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added.

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Sen. Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, commented Friday on the nomination of William Lynn.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Michigan Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who had raised questions about deputy defense secretary nominee William Lynn’s lobbying activities, stressed today that he still supported the nomination. The deputy defense secretary is the second highest position in the Pentagon, under the Secretary of Defense.

“I haven’t seen anything that would cause me not to support it,” the Democrat said Friday.

The comments from the chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee come a day after Arizona Sen. John McCain sent Lynn a stern letter charging that the nominee had not given the committee the right answers about his lobbying, and how he might recuse himself in relevant situations.

Levin said that information could be sent to the committee soon, and that he was hoping to vote soon after it arrives. Lynn has been asked for information about what projects Lynn lobbied on for Raytheon, as well as the more complicated issue of what areas he may have to recuse himself from if he is confirmed.

Levin said the issues raised regarding Lynn are not new - they’ve been raised before about others – and the senator feels that there are appropriate provisions to deal with the nominee’s conflicts in the near term as he divests himself from his Raytheon stock holdings and gets his final bonus from the company.

Levin recently visited Iraq.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is calling for a new government in Iraq, saying his trip there last week convinced him that Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is too sectarian and cannot create a stable Iraq.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, was blunt in a Monday conference call with reporters. “I hope the Iraqi Assembly, when it reconvenes in two weeks will vote the Maliki government out of office,” he said.

Levin credited American troops with a visible decrease in violence in Iraq. But the Armed Services chairman insisted military force alone cannot stabilize the country. Levin said Iraq could erupt into more internal bloodshed, with its army dividing against itself, unless leaders in Baghdad reach tough political compromise. And he insisted Maliki can’t do that.

“The Maliki government is non-functional,” the Michigan Democrat said, “and cannot produce a political settlement because it is too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders.”

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