Nebraska Republican says war has destabilized Mideast
Updated: 3:39 p.m. ET Aug. 21, 2005
WASHINGTON - A leading Republican senator and prospective presidential candidate said Sunday that the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict from a generation ago.
Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts and other military honors for his service in Vietnam, reiterated his position that the United States needs to develop a strategy to leave Iraq.
Hagel scoffed at the idea that U.S. troops could be in Iraq four years from now at levels above 100,000, a contingency for which the Pentagon is preparing.
“We should start figuring out how we get out of there,” Hagel said on “This Week” on ABC. “But with this understanding, we cannot leave a vacuum that further destabilizes the Middle East. I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur.”
Hagel said “stay the course” is not a policy. “By any standard, when you analyze 2 1/2 years in Iraq ... we’re not winning,” he said.
President Bush was preparing for separate speeches this week to reaffirm his plan to help Iraq train its security forces while its leaders build a democratic government. In his weekly Saturday radio address, Bush said the fighting there protected Americans at home.
Growing skepticism
Polls show the public growing more skeptical about Bush’s handling of the war.
In Iraq, officials continued to craft a new constitution in the face of a Monday night deadline for parliamentary approval. They missed the initial deadline last week.
Other Republican senators appearing on Sunday news shows advocated remaining in Iraq until the mission set by Bush is completed, but they also noted that the public is becoming more and more concerned and needs to be reassured.
Sen. George Allen, R-Va., another possible candidate for president in 2008, disagreed that the U.S. is losing in Iraq. He said a constitution guaranteeing basic freedoms would provide a rallying point for Iraqis.
“I think this is a very crucial time for the future of Iraq,” said Allen, also on ABC. “The terrorists don’t have anything to win the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. All they care to do is disrupt.”
Hagel, who was among those who advocated sending two to three times as many troops to Iraq when the war began in March 2003, said a stronger military presence by the U.S. is not the solution today.
“We’re past that stage now because now we are locked into a bogged-down problem not unsimilar, dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam,” Hagel said. “The longer we stay, the more problems we’re going to have.”
Allen said that unlike the communist-guided North Vietnamese who fought the U.S., the insurgents in Iraq have no guiding political philosophy or organization. Still, Hagel argued, the similarities are growing.
‘The dam has broke’
“What I think the White House does not yet understand — and some of my colleagues — the dam has broke on this policy,” Hagel said. “The longer we stay there, the more similarities (to Vietnam) are going to come together.”
The Army’s top general, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press that the Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years as part of preparations for a worst-case scenario.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said U.S. security is tied to success in Iraq, and he counseled people to be patient.
“The worst-case scenario is not staying four years. The worst-case scenario is leaving a dysfunctional, repressive government behind that becomes part of the problem in the war on terror and not the solution,” Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.
Allen said the military would be strained at such levels in four years yet could handle that difficult assignment. Hagel described the Army contingency plan as “complete folly.”
“I don’t know where he’s going to get these troops,” Hagel said. “There won’t be any National Guard left ... no Army Reserve left ... there is no way America is going to have 100,000 troops in Iraq, nor should it, in four years.”
Hagel added: “It would bog us down, it would further destabilize the Middle East, it would give Iran more influence, it would hurt Israel, it would put our allies over there in Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a terrible position. It won’t be four years. We need to be out.”
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the U.S. is winning in Iraq but has “a way to go” before it meets its goals there. Meanwhile, more needs to be done to lay out the strategy, Lott said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I do think we, the president, all of us need to do a better job, do more,” Lott said, by telling people “why we have made this commitment, what is being done now, what we do expect in the process and, yes, why it’s going to take more time.”
posted on August 21, 2005 03:00:35 PM new
The truth has set him free, any thoughts of running for President on the GOP side just circled the bowl and is headed down.
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Golfer:Stop checking your watch all the time,its too much of a distraction.
Caddy:Its not a watch, its a compass
posted on August 21, 2005 03:28:10 PM new
Hey Ronnie, your post must mean the republican Senators that are circling the sinking ships the S.S.Bush/Cheney and the S.S. G.O.P. "is headed down".
Sen. Chuck Hagel from Nebraska is a HONORABLE man.
Of course the G.O.P. and wacko right wing CON-servative Bush supports will try to destroy him like they do anyone that speaks out against them.
posted on August 21, 2005 03:46:49 PM new
WashingtoneBayer
posted on August 21, 2005 03:31:54 PM
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yeah coming from a illustrious politcal analyst, I am sure you would know.
Ron
Well, haven't seen anything from you that was too brilliant....just "don't call me names or I'll tattle and pout".
Typical Repug, can't answer honestly so attacks the messenger
posted on August 21, 2005 03:56:43 PM new
Hey Ronnie there is not need for you to praise me.
Everyone knows the G.O.P.,Bush,Cheney,Rove and the wacko right wing CON-servative Bush supporters will try anything to destroy anyone that speaks out against them.
THEY HAVE A LONG TRACK RECORD THAT PROVES THAT FACT.
posted on August 21, 2005 05:34:29 PM newWell, haven't seen anything from you that was too brilliant....just "don't call me names or I'll tattle and pout".
Typical Repug, can't answer honestly so attacks the messenger
So what is a repug?
Must of missed my poignant posts in other threads, especially ones concerning Mrs. Sheehan.
Ron
posted on August 21, 2005 05:44:01 PM new
As I am not republican, then there is no basis to use that term when addressing me other than to attempt to insult.
posted on August 21, 2005 06:15:51 PM new“It would bog us down, it would further destabilize the Middle East, it would give Iran more influence, it would hurt Israel, it would put our allies over there in Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a terrible position. It won’t be four years."
Finally some of the Republicans are starting to see through the LIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
“I do think we, the president, all of us need to do a better job, do more,” Lott said, by telling people “why we have made this commitment, what is being done now, what we do expect in the process and, yes, why it’s going to take more time.”
So in other words Lott is saying Bush better start making a plan and executing it instead of just trying to "wing it"
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on August 21, 2005 07:39:09 PM new
Hey mingotree, Ronnie calls himself a CON-servative Libertarian. A guy in his own words who tells us he wastes his vote.
You calling him a REPUG was no mistake.
A very wise old man told me the other day that a CON-servative Libertarian is nothing but a CON-servative republican that is to ashamed to admit it.
Hey mingotree, tOMWiii is doing a hell of a good job exposing the Turd Blossom crowd. For the most part he has them DUMBFOUNDED.
posted on August 21, 2005 08:07:36 PM new
LOL....so what does this change? Nothing. He's going to run for the party nomination...says a lot.
And his idea on how to handle the Iraq situation....pretty much as the President's already is. When it's determined the Iraqi's can take care of themselves.
All these people who disagree and feel a need to speak their minds....pretty much say the same thing....be they dems or republican.
We need to stay until Iraqi is stable for us to pull out. No different at all. I have yet to read an elected dem say we need to pull out now....be damned the Iraqi people.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on August 22, 2005 06:05:34 AM new
"abhorrent, abominable, antipathetic, contemptible, despicable, despisable, detestable, disgusting, filthy, foul, infamous, loathsome, lousy, low, mean2, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, odious, rotten, shabby, vile, wretched"
Hey! I resemble that remark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golfer:Stop checking your watch all the time,its too much of a distraction.
Caddy:Its not a watch, its a compass
posted on August 22, 2005 03:12:58 PM new
"classicrock000:
You left out: "Pawn of the EVEL EMPIRE"
SATAN'S IMPS are happily 4 games back in the AL EAST behind the forces of GOODNESS, JUSTICE, MOM, and APPLE PIE (the RED SOX)!"
LOL Tom-my apoligies-and thats the worst of the lot!!
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Golfer:Stop checking your watch all the time,its too much of a distraction.
Caddy:Its not a watch, its a compass
posted on August 22, 2005 03:23:59 PM newLOL....so what does this change? Nothing. He's going to run for the party nomination...says a lot.
At least now a Republican is begining to see the truth, just like the VAST MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
All these people who disagree and feel a need to speak their minds....pretty much say the same thing....be they dems or republican
Hey, Linda. How come you are not calling him UN-American? More of your double standards.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
