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Sen. Hagel Excoriates Bush Email Print

By Georgia10
11/15/2005 07:00:23 PM EST

Senator Hagel, the moderate Republican war vet, hits back at the President for his recent comments about war critics:
The Iraq war should not be debated in the United States on a partisan political platform. This debases our country, trivializes the seriousness of war and cheapens the service and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. War is not a Republican or Democrat issue. The casualties of war are from both parties. The Bush Administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. Suggesting that to challenge or criticize policy is undermining and hurting our troops is not democracy nor what this country has stood for, for over 200 years. The Democrats have an obligation to challenge in a serious and responsible manner, offering solutions and alternatives to the Administration's policies.

Vietnam was a national tragedy partly because Members of Congress failed their country remained silent and lacked the courage to challenge the Administrations in power until it was too late. Some of us who went through that nightmare have an obligation to the 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam to not let that happen again. To question your government is not unpatriotic - to not question your government is unpatriotic. America owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices.

Read the rest of Senator Hagel's speech.  It shows the Democratic party doesn't have a monopoly on logic and rationality.  Senator Hagel sets forth a clear opinion on Iraq and American foreign policy:

Our strategic goal should be to get out of Iraq under conditions that offer Iraq the best possible opportunity for success - Iraqi success being defined as a free and self-governing country. This is not about setting a timeline. This is about pursuing policies designed to gradually pull the United States further away from the day to day responsibilities of defending Iraq and de facto governance of Iraq, and encouraging and demanding more responsibility from the Iraqis. [...]

As the Iraqi government assumes more responsibility for governing Iraq, so too must Iraq's forces continue to take on more responsibility to defend their country. The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, underscored this point on October 25 when he told Gwen Ifill on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer that he believes that the United States is, "on the right track to start significant reductions [of U.S. military forces] in the coming year." I believe the United States should begin drawing down forces in Iraq next year.

U.S. military power is not a surrogate force upon which Iraq can indefinitely depend.

Aside from the timeline for withdraw comment, that is an excellent analysis of the situation, from a Republican, no less...


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Sen. Hagel Excoriates Bush | 9 comments (9 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
This makes me crave sane Republicans (5.00 / 2)
Man, I wish they would re-take their party. That way, I can start to feel that if we lose an election, while I may disagree with most of their policies, I don't think it's the end of the world. With the radical nutjobs, I believe it could be in every sense of the phrase. Literally. The end of the world.

by SusanG on 11/15/2005 07:40:55 PM EST

Are there that many left? (none / 0)
I suspect it's not so much that the sane republicans have been stuffed into a closet by the wingnuts, but that many of those sane republicans have become or happily support the wingnuts.

I'm not a part of a redneck agenda - Green Day

by eugene on 11/15/2005 11:04:50 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Hagel has a conscience...that's reassuring (none / 0)
I wish more congressmen/women on both sides of the aisle could demonstrate as much.  I'm writing him a letter thanking him for speaking up and defending patriotism against jingoism, and for standing up to bush's manipulative rhetoric.  Between him and Trent Lott, it would appear that there are some republicans (though they be few and far between) who aren't just a waste of oxygen (though the jury's still out on Lott on most issues)...

Let's hope this is the beginning of an overall GOP revolt...so we don't take as many seats next year...if bush becomes a lame duck by January, I'll consider that worth the cost.

Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right

by darthstar on 11/15/2005 07:13:11 PM EST

he's a republican in the old sense of the word (none / 0)
the type of republicans you can respect and have an honest debate with.

Contrast his statement with McCain's:

Underscoring his fundamental support for the administration's position on going to war with Iraq, McCain said it is legitimate "to criticize and to disagree and to debate" the administration policy, "but I want to say, I think it`s a lie to say that the president lied to the American people" about prewar intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

On the one hand, he says it's "legitimate" to debate, and on the other hand, he's calling the war critics liars.

My blog is pretty.

by Georgia10 on 11/15/2005 07:16:13 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Hagel was out front on this issue (none / 1)
in the early days, too.  He was one of the Administration's first Republican critics. He also makes a lot of sense, and I think his heart is in the right place.

I imagine that his life hasn't been too pleasant on his side of the aisle for the last two years.  But I think he's about to have more company.

Rats deserting . . . before election year?

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. FDR

by btyarbro on 11/15/2005 08:10:39 PM EST

the sound of no boots marching (none / 0)
imagine that... a bush-era senator defending the democrats right to question and dissent... somewhere, across the pacific, bush's ears are burning...

oh, and that unaccustomed and vaguely eerie silence is the absence of republicans marching in lockstep to rove's cadence and beating drum...

How do I get a transfer out of this chickenshit outfit?

by profmarcus on 11/15/2005 09:03:18 PM EST

I'm sorry if I'm a bit apprehensive... (none / 0)
...where has Hagel been for the past five years?  Why hasn't he stood up to the madness earlier.

This seems like positioning to me...he at least sees the writing on the wall that the ship is sinking.

He also supported Bush's re-election and campaigned for him.

So I say, "too little too late."

The Albany Project. The best damned blog about New York State politics.

by NYBri on 11/15/2005 10:20:14 PM EST

I'm sure (none / 0)
positioning for 2008 plays a significant role in Hagel's remarks. But even so, what he says is for the most part right on the money and, positioning or not, I sense he believes what he's saying without having to parse it just so.

Additionally Hagel may be offering cover to other Repubs sick and disgusted with the entire Cheney/neocon cabal who've created this war debacle, and if we see movement along this track in the near future I think Hagel is one the country will be justified in thanking for helping to bring about a much needed change in direction.

The criminal negligence perpetrated on us by our government and the media in these last 5 years has been so pervasive that I for one am very appreciative of anyone who comes forward now and speaks the truth.

by sbj on 11/15/2005 11:22:22 PM EST

[ Parent ]
It's at least interesting ... (none / 0)
... that unlike his fellow "maverick" McCain, Hagel does appear to see the writing on the wall and understands the need to pull out.

I agree completely that I don't see any reason to praise excessively anyone who has been complicit in the BushCo misadventure; it is still, nice, nevertheless, to see the rats beginning to line up to desert the rapidly sinking NeoCon ship ...

-- Stu

by sdf on 11/15/2005 11:37:51 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Sen. Hagel Excoriates Bush | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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