First on CNN: Levin says Limbaugh should be dropped from Armed Forces Network
(CNN) - Sen. Carl Levin, the powerful chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday he would like the Armed Forces Network to drop the controversial Rush Limbaugh program from its service that provides radio and television shows to U.S. service members around the world.
"I would hope the people that run it see just how offensive this is and drop it on their own volition," Levin told CNN in an exclusive interview in the Capitol.
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Senate Armed Services Chair says consensus growing to cut some Pakistan funding
Washington (CNN) - There is growing support in Congress for cutting off some U.S. aid to Pakistan because leaders there turn a blind eye to terrorists who go after U.S. targets, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.
"I believe there is strong feeling inside the Democratic group of senators, and probably inside Republican senators as well, that the continued harboring of the Haqqani network and the Quetta Shura by the Pakistanis, where those people are crossing the border freely and killing our troops and Afghan troops, represents a real problem in terms of continuing financial support for Pakistan," Sen. Carl Levin told reporters in a Capitol hallway.
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Key Senators want bin Laden photos released, but disagree on when
Washington (CNN) - Two top senators involved in national security said Wednesday the photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse should be released, but they disagreed on when.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who chairs the Armed Services Committee - and who has not seen the photos - said the U.S. should wait to allow the emotions of those around the world who may be sympathetic to bin Laden to cool.
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Levin: Libyan people responsible for removing Gadhafi
Washington (CNN) - Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Carl Levin defended U.S. involvement in Libya as a mission with a "clear purpose," but said it is up to the Libyan people to remove their leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Michigan Democrat on Sunday said support from the international community is vital to the success of the mission that began when the United Nations Security Council voted March 17 to authorize a no-fly zone over the African country and to "take all necessary measure" – without using an occupation force – to protect the civilians under attack in Libya.
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Reid to push DADT repeal
(CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nevada) has said he will try to bring a measure to repeal the controversial Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy - which prevents gays from serving openly in the military– to the Senate floor after Thanksgiving.
"During the work period following the Thanksgiving holidays, I will bring the Defense Authorization bill to the floor, including a repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' Our Defense Department supports repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' as a way to build our all-volunteer armed forces. We need to repeal this discriminatory policy so that any American who wants to defend our country can do so," Reid said in a statement.
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Democratic senator open to dropping 'don't ask' from defense bill
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The senator at the center of the legislative tug of war over a vote on the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" said Tuesday the strategy on how it could be considered is "up in the air," according to a spokeswoman.
In what could be a be a major victory for opponents of a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, told reporters on Capitol Hill it is possible the vote on repeal could be considered separately from the defense authorization bill. Levin supports repealing the law, which bans openly gay troops from serving.
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Levin gets pie in the face
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/08/16/art.levin.0816w.rubello.jpg caption ="Michigan Sen. Carl Levin was hit in the face with a pie at an event Monday."](CNN) - Michigan Sen. Carl Levin may have been expecting a friendly town-hall audience in Big Rapids, Michigan on Monday, but the Armed Services Committee Chairman instead found himself at the receiving end of a pie in the face, according to the Detroit News.
Levin was speaking before the Mecosta County Democratic Party at Pepper's Café and Deli when a man who identified himself as a student scolded Levin over the U.S. war policy, the Detroit News Reports. Several minutes a later, a woman who was with the student walked up to Levin and hit him in the face with a pie, Sgt. Jeff Jennings of the Big Rapids Police Department confirmed to CNN.
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The woman has been arrested but is yet to be arraigned, Jennings also said.
Planned U.S. draw-down from Afghanistan a sensitive issue
Washington (CNN) - Less than a year from the scheduled start of withdrawing some troops from Afghanistan, opinions remain varied about exactly what will happen when the transition begins at the end of June 2011.
The Obama administration has made clear some troops - no one can say how many - will start withdrawing by next July from stable areas where Afghan forces can provide security.
However, questions over how to measure success and whether the almost 9-year-old war is worth the continuing U.S. investment in lives and resources are gaining prominence as congressional mid-term elections approach in November.
In interviews with military and political leaders broadcast Sunday, scenarios presented on what happens next year ranged from guarded optimism to serious concern. While most views followed expected party talking points, all appeared grounded in the common belief that success is vital even as they differed on what it would be.
On CNN's "State of the Union," Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan defended the planned troop draw-down next year as a necessary part of strategy.
Afghanistan war effort a 'mixed picture,' Dem says
"[W]e’re taking the fight to the Taliban right in the heart of the Taliban heartland," Sen. Carl Levin told CNN Sunday. (Photo Credit: CNN)
Washington (CNN) – The Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee emphasized Sunday that Afghans are beginning to take the lead in the fight against Taliban.
“What I see is a mixed picture with some signs of progress,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Watch: Levin on Afghanistan
Levin told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley that while a “negative picture” of the situation in Afghanistan is the one that predominates, “but there actually is some positive indicators too” including U.S. Special Forces “doing a very good job” at capturing Taliban leaders.
Levin added that the number of American and Afghan casualties has increased because “we’re taking the fight to the Taliban right in the heart of the Taliban heartland.”
In the long troubled Kandahar region of the country, Levin said that the U.S. was “gradually” removing Taliban control “but it is being done as we speak now with the Afghan troops taking the major lead and with more Afghan troops finally than American troops there.
“So this transition to Afghan control of their own destiny is gradually taking place,” he said.
Levin also spotlighted President Obama’s July 2011 target date for beginning to draw down the additional troops that have been sent to Afghanistan.
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