Sen. Chuck Hagel: "The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

[hadrons]

Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) is angry. He's upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He's also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney's recent remark that the insurgency is in its "last throes." "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

That's strikingly blunt talk from a member of the president's party, even one cast as something of a pariah in the GOP because of his early skepticism about the war. "I got beat up pretty good by my own party and the White House that I was not a loyal Republican," he says. Today, he notes, things are changing: "More and more of my colleagues up here are concerned."


Indeed, there are signs that the politics of the Iraq war are being reshaped by the continuing tide of bad news. Take this month in Iraq, with 47 U.S. troops killed in the first 15 days. That's already five more than the toll for the entire month of June last year. With the rate of insurgent attacks near an all-time high and the war's cost set to top $230 billion, more politicians on both sides of the aisle are responding to opinion polls that show a growing number of Americans favoring a withdrawal from Iraq. Republican Sens. Lincoln Chafee and Lindsey Graham have voiced their concerns. And two Republicans, including the congressman who brought "freedom fries" to the Capitol, even joined a pair of Democratic colleagues in sponsoring a bill calling for a troop withdrawal plan to be drawn up by year's end. "I feel confident that the opposition is going to build," says Rep. Ron Paul (news, bio, voting record), the other Republican sponsor and a longtime opponent of the war.

....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20050618/ts_usnews/hitbyfriendlyfire

Losing, try already lost, but not to worry GOP, I'm sure Biden or Kerry will carry some of the pro-Iraq shilling that Hagel stopped doing

[rodeodance]

1. whow--a repug actually mentioned the elephant in the room!!

[acmavm]

2. He's not not not not angry. He's setting up his run for 2008. Believe me,

if things weren't going so damn badly he wouldn't be saying a word.

If you think Hagel is a good guy, an honest Joe, look up his ties to ES&S. He's got a bit of that devious self-serving republicanism in him, just like the rest of them.

[malaise]

4. True but

it's ROTFL funny reading these comments. They were warned before this disaster, before all these people were killed for nothing but oil, wealth and power. now they're all bawling as if they've discovered something we didn't know ages ago.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Got beat up by his own party

for not being a loyal Republican.

Well, fuck that. We need loyal Americans. COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY!

Good on ya, Hagel.

[Botany]

5. Ship 'em so ES & S machines Chuck ......

..... you campaigned for * and your dirty company did it's bit ......
the stain is on you too.