Odd Man Out: Chuck Hagel's Republican exile (Nov New Yorker)

[struggle4progress]

by Connie Bruck
November 3, 2008

... Despite misgivings about the Bush Administration’s buildup to war—misgivings that Hagel aired repeatedly in public—he voted for the October, 2002, war resolution. (He has since said that he regrets his vote.) On the Senate floor, he declared, “Actions in Iraq must come in the context of an American-led, multilateral approach to disarmament, not as the first case for a new American doctrine involving the preëmptive use of force.” He also expressed fear about what he calls “the uncontrollables”—the unpredictable consequences of military action—and about America’s limited knowledge of the Middle East. “How many of us really know and understand Iraq, the country, the history, the people, and the role in the Arab world?” he asked. “The American people must be told of this long-term commitment, risk, and cost of this undertaking. We should not be seduced by the expectations of dancing in the streets.” In September, 2004, he called the situation in Iraq “beyond pitiful.” Senator John Kerry, in a debate with President Bush in the 2004 campaign, quoted Hagel’s comment, which rankled Hagel’s Republican colleagues. Hagel has frequently described the Administration’s “war on terror” as ill-conceived sloganeering and has argued that, in addition to fighting terrorism, we must fight the poverty and despair that enable terrorism to flourish. In a committee hearing in early 2007, he denounced the Bush Administration’s proposed “surge” strategy, which McCain strongly supported, as “the most dangerous foreign-policy blunder in this country since Vietnam” ...

Hagel, citing McCain’s repeated calls for Russia to be expelled from the Group of Eight, the association of major industrial democracies, said, “You’re not going to isolate Russia—that’s completely crazy!” He told me that McCain’s approach to Russia was one of the reasons that he could not endorse him ...

I was speaking with Hagel in early October, shortly before the second Presidential debate. He mentioned that Obama had just called him, and among the many things they discussed was Afghanistan. “Here we are, in a situation where we all agree that the mountain range between Afghanistan and Pakistan represents the biggest threat to our security and the world’s security, where the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and terrorist groups are reconstituting,” Hagel said. “Pakistan is right on the brink. Yet we do not have enough force structure to put into the location that represents the greatest threat to our security. Why is that? Because of a fatal, fatal error”—the decision to go into Iraq and then to commit an even greater number of troops in the surge. “It has consumed our capacity to deal with anything else in the world. It won’t be until sometime next year that you’re going to be able to give more troops to General McKiernan”—the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan—“whom poor Governor Palin in her debate kept referring to as General McClellan.” Hagel chuckled, and added that that war “was a while back” ...

I asked Hagel whether he would accept a post in a McCain Administration, and he said that he had thought about it. “But I don’t see John changing his position and direction and concept of the American role in the world, to adjust to mine,” he went on. “I’m not going to change mine to adjust to his. And I serve at the pleasure of the President. So it wouldn’t work.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/03/081103fa_fact_bruck?printable=true

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[TwilightGardener]

1. Just finished reading the whole thing--I find it interesting that Bill Clinton

was very respectful of Congress and looked upon it as a partner, rather than an obstacle, even though most of the time he was in office it was controlled by Newt and the GOP. That's true leadership, to invite the opposition to come and talk with you and share their ideas. We have forgotten what that was like after 8 years of the "Uniter". I am also going to miss Hagel's lone voice of GOP sanity in the Senate, as a Nebraskan. He is just as scared of the religious right as we are. If Scott Kleeb doesn't win, I will have to prepare for six years of likely wing-nut embarrassment under Johanns, probably the only Senate candidate who WELCOMES Chimpy's support this year.

[Unsane]

2. He'll be Obama's DOD Sec. I called it.

[MissMarple]

3. Err...perhaps. He is still VERY conservative.. and seems quite honest.

So, we'll see. Robert Gates has integrity, as well.

[Unsane]

4. DOD sec isn't a post where you can push a conservative social or economic agenda

no worries about that