in 2005 that they "took their eye off the ball when we decided to go after Iraq instead of al-Qaeda, the people who had attacked us on 9/11, and their leader. In 2008, Levin became concerned that the United States and the international community lacked a strategy for success in Afghanistan, and that NATO failed to supply troops and equipment needed in emergency situations. Levin was opposed to the 2009 Afghanistan troop surge (adding 30,000 U.S. combat troops), stressing the advancement of training and expanding the Afghan National Army; saying that the ANA should increase to 240,000 by 2012, from the original goal of 134,000, and the number of active members of the Afghan National Police should expand to 160,000, from the initial goal of 96,000. Though Levin advocated a "surge of Afghan security forces," he said that he wouldn't rule out temporarily expanding the number of combat forces, but stuck with his original position. He questioned top Obama administration officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during a senate hearing on the Afghanistan surge, saying that, "Where I have questions is whether the rapid deployment of a large number of U.S. combat forces, without an adequate number of Afghan security forces for our troops to partner with, serves that mission." Levin opposed setting a timetable for Afghanistan, voting against Senate Amendment 4204, requiring the President to submit a safe and orderly redeployment plan for combat troops and a plan to set a date for withdrawal, saying that, "I don't think we know enough about how these events are gonna unfold, for there to be a deadline." Levin supported the U.S. keeping a "limited footprint" in troops and in bases in Afghanistan, and said at that time he would focus the remainder of his senate tenure on the "rapid transfer of responsibility for Afghan security to the Afghans." Iraq war Levin was an early opponent of using U.S. military force in Iraq, saying in August 2002 that "if Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, he wouldn't use them," and that "he's a survivalist, not a suicide bomber". Levin proposed the failed Multilateral Use of Force Authorization Act, as an alternative to the Iraq Resolution, pushing President George W. Bush to build an international coalition in conjunction with the United Nations, so that "Saddam will be looking down the barrel of a gun, with