Posted on 10/09/2002 7:39:34 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Levin brothers in the forefront of congressional debate on Iraq
By JIM ABRAMS
The Associated Press
10/9/02 8:02 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Michigan brothers, a senator and a representative, are taking a lead in urging Congress to think twice before approving a go-it-alone attack on Iraq.
"We both feel deeply about this," said Rep. Sander Levin, the older brother of Sen. Carl Levin. "We spent a lot of time talking quietly about this, helping inform each other."
In the end the two Democrats, whose state is home to a large ethnic Arab community, reached a similar conclusion: the United States should work with the United Nations to force Iraq to grant unhindered inspections and to disarm before taking the dangerous step of a unilateral U.S. strike against the Baghdad government.
Carl Levin has made that two-step procedure the main alternative to the White House-backed resolution now being debated in the House and Senate. That resolution also urges the United Nations to set tough new rules for weapons inspections but authorizes the president to use force independent of U.N. actions.
Sander Levin is a chief co-sponsor of a similar substitute proposal in the House. Both have little chance of success against the president's plan, but they have become a gathering point for a sizable minority of lawmakers who worry about consequences of a pre-emptive, unilateral attack on Iraq.
"The implications of that are huge in terms of future peace and stability in the world," Carl Levin said. He warns of increased dangers to U.S. troops, backlash in Muslim countries and the undermining of international law barring pre-emptive strikes against another sovereign country except in cases of imminent threat.
"We've had many conversations about war over the years," he said, speaking of himself and his brother. "We're not people who oppose the use of force, neither one of us. But we like to see if we can't reduce the risk and not create a lot of very dangerous effects in the process."
Sander Levin noted they had a background of being strong internationalists. The senator is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he has on occasion been a thorn in the side of the administration on such issues as the president's advocacy of a national missile defense system.
The representative is the top Democrat on the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, from which he played a leading role in approving normal trade relations with China two years ago. Earlier this year he was a leader in the unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from giving the president "fast-track" authority to negotiate trade agreements.
Both Sander, 71, and Carl, 68, were born in Detroit and are graduates of Harvard Law School. Carl served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and the Detroit City Council before winning a Senate seat in 1978. Sander entered the House in 1982 after two unsuccessful runs for the Michigan governorship.
On the Iraq question, the senator said, they didn't necessarily influence the other, but "we frequently think alike."
GO ROCKY!!! Go Harvey Dean!!
But we're not going alone, as anyone who reads the newspapers knows by now. Our coalition now includes England, Australia, Turkey, and Kuwait (we have the use of their bases). Why do the anti-war morons persist in spounting this blatant lie [that this is a unilateral operation]? ...and who believes them?
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