 AP |
Hagel definitely spoke truth in his recent speech about budgets, but let's start with the main sticking point: Israel.
This particular gem is a perfect example: "I'm a U.S. Senator, not an Israeli Senator."
That's a pretty straightforward statement, yet the torrent of furor it and others caused was cataclysmic. Throughout Hagel's nomination process, pundits and politicos fired off accusations of Anti-Semitism as if they were Marines trying to get rid of extra ammunition.
If only they would listen to what some Israeli officials say, maybe they'd think again.
Foreign Policy recently posted a piece called "You don't know Chuck" which compares quotes from Chuck Hagel with those of the Israeli Shin Bet (think National Security Agency with air strikes.)
Here are some highlights:
"You can't make peace using
Sounds kind of like Hagel urging Israel "negotiate" with Hamas.
The IDF is "a brutal occupation force, not unlike the Germans in WWII" — Avraham Shalom, Shin Bet director, 1980-1986.
Jeez, had Hagel said that alone he would never have been confirmed.
Of the Palestinians, Hagel said this: "Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away. And that's where the Palestinians are today."
Is that really out of line?
So what if he's got a habit of shooting off at the mouth? He's a hard-nosed enlisted man who served in ranks where candor was an asset, a virtue, not a vice.
He's the man who called the surge a "blunder", against his party, and ended up being more than right, in both Afghanistan and Iraq. There's no one else America should want in the position.
One day in, and he's already hitting homers — here's Hagel addressing an auditorium at the Pentagon a day after his nomination:
"If there's one thing America has stood for more than any one thing, is that we are a force for good. We make mistakes. We've made mistakes. We'll continue to make mistakes. But we are a force for good. And we should never, ever forget that, and we should always keep that out in front as much as any one thing that drives us every day. As difficult as our jobs are with the budget and sequestration -- I don't need to dwell on all the good news there -- that's a reality. We need to figure this out. You are doing that. You have been doing that. We need to deal with this reality."
Whoa, Chuck, watch out with the mistakes stuff, someone might get that confused with an apology. People would get mad.
People might even miss his reference to the budget, and the gigantic problem it's become (according to Admiral Mike Mullen, even more of a problem than Al Qaeda).
The fact is, Chuck Hagel is the best for the job because he speaks truth: he's got the guts to make the cuts, and he's just as willing to talk to America's enemies as he is to bomb them. In the current foreign policy climate — with a strung-out military that's told it has to lose weight; and an Iran where the military option may not stop nuclear development — there's no better man.
He does have some red on his hands, but what major politician doesn't.
So as Chuck Hagel is making his confirmation victory lap, as the dust settles and he gets busy streamlining the military, it's important to realize that most of the pushback he'll get is because he's just saying what needs to be said.