I know John McCain has solidified his hold as the Republican that Dems hate to love, but Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel has been almost as admirable in recent years. I probably disagree with Hagel on 90% of the major political issues of the day, but the things he’s saying about the other 10% are music to my ears.
The latest example was Hagel telling a California audience this week the one thing most Republicans refuse to acknowledge — the war in Iraq has undermined the war on terrorism.
In a sharp critique of the leader of his own party, Hagel said he believes the occupation of Iraq by the American military was poorly planned and has spread terrorist cells more widely around the world.
“This put in motion a new geographic dispersion” of the terrorists, said Hagel, 58, in an interview before delivering a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. “It’s harder to deal with them because they’re not as contained. Iraq has become a training ground.”
He added that although it is too soon to judge how the war in Iraq will ultimately influence the war on terror, in the short term it has created more terrorists and given them more targets — American soldiers.
When Dems say this, we’re accused of aiding and abetting the enemy while undermining American resolve. It’s a b.s. charge, but its easier for the GOP to use it than deal with the facts.
It’s harder, of course, to use the same line against Hagel, who’s not only a Republican and chairman of his state’s Bush campaign committee, but also a decorated Vietnam veteran. The “disgruntled” attack the White House uses against Bush’s like-minded critics (O’Neill, Beers, DiIulio, Zinni) obviously wouldn’t apply here.
In another area in which Hagel’s views differ sharply from the president’s, he suggested that the best way to ultimately win the war on terror is to earn the trust and respect of foreigners, especially younger people in the Arab world and other parts of the globe. The best way to do that, he said, is to make the United States more accessible to them and more open to immigration.
“We are pushing away our friends, our allies, the next generation around the world,” Hagel said.
Yes, we are, and I respect Hagel for having the courage to say so.