Carl Levin Quotes (107 Quotes)

This uranium issue is not just about 16 words in a speech. It is about whether administration officials made a conscious and very troubling decision to create a false impression about the gravity and imminence of the threat that Iraq posed to America.

This report highlights the current gap in federal oversight that is a major problem and needs immediate correction, ... Enron's deceptions were shocking, and equally shocking was the extent to which respected U.S. financial institutions like (J.P. Morgan) Chase, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch helped Enron carry out its deceptions and mislead investors and analysts about the company's finances.

There are many reasons to find a way out of Iraq sooner rather than later. First and foremost are the continuing casualties and the loss of brave servicemen and women who carry out their duties so professionally.

The sole purpose of that statement was to make the American people believe that our government believed it. But the truth was that our intelligence agencies did not believe it,

After the war started, the administration began an effort to change the subject of the debate from the actual presence of weapons of mass destruction to WMD programs, then to WMD-related program activities and more recently to speculation about intentions,

We need to devise a way to effectively inspect these trash shipments and if there is no way to inspect them adequately, we simply should not allow them into this country.

not an inadvertent mistake.

Today, people have to supply more information to get a driver's license than to form a company.

Restoring responsibility and accountability is essential to the economic and fiscal health of our nation.

The United Nations should issue the ultimatum, put down very clear dates ... and I believe that the United Nations should authorize member states to use force to implement those resolutions,

If we have a chance of succeeding and bringing stability and democracy to Iraq, it will mean learning from our mistakes, not denying them and not ignoring them.

Whether we find weapons or we don't find weapons, the allegations, with certainty, that there were weapons of mass destruction, imminently available and would be used by Saddam Hussein, was based on intelligence which seems to me ... was exaggerated. Nothing I saw on this trip changed my view of the troubling nature of that evidence.

Merrill knew full well that Enron was trying to structure deals so that debt was hidden off balance sheet and cash flow was manufactured,

I hope this is the beginning of the end of Iowa and New Hampshire's dominant role.

That's what President Bush said in his speech yesterday at the FBI Academy in Quantico. After the attacks on Britain, our closest ally in the war on terrorism, it is an astonishing thing to say. It's a very insensitive statement with regard to the British, ... Tony Blair must absolutely have blanched when he heard that.

They underscore the need for the Defense Department and for this committee to address the problem of sexual harassment in our armed forces and to do it aggressively and to do it quickly,

If they refuse to put their political pieces together, if they don't make those compromises, ... it seems to me it's obvious that we're going to have to consider that timetable for reduction and withdrawal.

Levin, though not aware of the matrix steps which need to be accomplished as the group of local, state, and federal transportation departments begin to undertake the actual planning phase of the work, expressed the importance of keeping him informed of the timelines and milestones set forth. We will do what we can to facilitate this process, ... Frankly this thing has to work. We had to say no to so many other people in order to get the funding for this approved.

What the president presents is a false choice between staying the course and cutting and running. Just staying on the same course we're on is not the way to proceed in Iraq. The course has been too violent. There have been too many American casualties.

There's nothing but foot-dragging relative to the investigation, ... There's a lot of evidence that the administration went way beyond the intelligence that was provided to them.

I think the only hope that we have, really, of redeeming ourselves here and winning back some of the support that this incident has cost us is if we act as an open society that will deal with problems openly, that will hold people accountable.

I think the American people obviously re-elected him. That doesn't mean they agree with all of his policies relative to Iraq or all of the ways in which the Iraq war has been fought,

The collars used on prisoners, the dogs and the cameras did not suddenly appear out of thin air, ... These acts of abuse were not the spontaneous actions of lower ranking enlisted personnel who lacked the proper supervision.

I do think the response was too slow from the administration.

The American people deserve a budget that invests in the future, protects the most vulnerable among us and helps to create jobs and economic security.

If you want the law changed I don't care which administration you represent if any administration wants the law changed, this or a previous one, come to Congress and change it but don't ignore it.

There is no way we can achieve diversity with one state, no way we can achieve diversity with two states,

We cannot overstate the sacrifice our military personnel - all volunteers - are making to ensure the security of their fellow Americans.

If they understand, which I believe they really are sensing, that the alternative the Republicans have been offering is to repeal what we've done, to go back to Bush policies - and if you asked the public what would you prefer, Bush economic policies or Obama economic policies, they take and prefer Obama economic policies.

The Constitution is a document that should only be amended with great caution.

Dr. Rice's record on Iraq gives me great concern. In her public statements she clearly overstated and exaggerated the intelligence concerning Iraq before the war in order to support the President's decision to initiate military action against Iraq.

The good news is great news in terms of the dollars earmarked for this project, but now you have to determine how you make your case with the state,

It's not the armed forces which are hollow it's the rhetoric of Mr. Cheney and, I'm afraid, also Governor Bush,

The next several months are likely to determine whether Iraq will be engulfed in all-out civil war or move toward nationhood.

The presence of our forces in Iraq is not unlimited. The administration's repeated statements that we will stay in Iraq as long as needed sends the wrong message. We should not mislead the Iraqis into thinking that they have unlimited time to reach a broad-based political settlement.

In many regards, what is most notable about the President's budget is not what is in the plan, but what has been left out.

He looked me square in the eye and said that they didn't take place, ... I must take Judge Roberts at his word.

We need the support of people around the world in our war on terrorism.

unthinkable that the vice president of the United States continues to insist upon an exception for the CIA , saying they should not be bound by our torture policy.

Our commanders in the field have consistently told us that there will not be a military victory over the insurgency without a political coming-together of the major Iraqi groups.

There are many individual senators, including myself, who have said that, at an appropriate time after disposing of the impeachment matter, that an appropriate censure resolution that seems to me should be considered by the Congress.

Without adopting and implementing a measured and credible plan, coalition forces could be needed for an indeterminate time. Without such a plan, Iraqis may never assume responsibility for taking back their country from the insurgents and taking the risks and making the compromises necessary to chart their own destiny.

I am 100 percent supportive of the stand-alone bill to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' that Sens. Lieberman and Collins have now proposed, and indeed I will co-sponsor that legislation. It is time for this discriminatory policy to end, and I am willing to pursue any effective legislative path that could lead to that result.

talk directly to the North Koreans. That's what's been missing. ... It has led to real failure in these policies. The nuclear threat is increasing from North Korea as a result.

I think (House Republicans are) putting, frankly, a private profit ahead of public protection in doing this. They're wrong,

The election could lead to a change for the better, which is everybody's hope, but it might be a step toward crisis and toward all-out civil war.

America is now questioning more and more the president's decisions, ... Not only the statements, the policy which led to the war, the way we got into it, but the failure to acquire allies and to get the Iraqis to take over the security of their country.

The administration should tell Iraqis that if they do not reach a political settlement by year's end, we will consider a timetable for our withdrawal,

If there's a strong majority of Sunnis, which is very possible, that vote against that constitution, could that not possibly lead to a worsening political situation rather than a better one

It is easy to make assertions that prewar intelligence was not distorted, hyped, or fabricated before a friendly audience,