A fact sheet circulating around Washington this week casts a dim light on the prospects of former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as a candidate to head the Pentagon in the second Obama administration. The untitled paper, which the Tatler has obtained, states that Hagel has “an extremely troubling record on Middle East issues that casts doubt on his preparedness to support policies which advance U.S. national security interests in that region, such as isolating Iran and holding terrorist groups accountable for their actions.”
Specifically, the paper states that in 2009, Hagel “signed onto a letter urging President Obama to open direct negotiations with Hamas, which has perpetrated dozens of suicide bombings that have killed or injured hundreds of civilians in Israel, including even some Americans.”
The paper states that Hagel has refused to join large congressional majorities in expressions of support for Israel, and has advocated direct and unconditional talks with Iran.
The fact sheet cites numerous examples of Hagel’s record on Israel and the Middle East, including Hagel’s refusal in 2001 to sign a letter requesting President Bush not meet with then Palestinian Chairman Yassir Arafat until forces linked with Arafat’s Fatah party ceased attacks on Israel. The paper also calls out Hagel’s 2006 cease fire call on Israel as it was battling Hizballah targets in Lebanon, from which the terrorist group had fired numerous rockets into Israel.
The sheet also accuses Hagel of harboring hostility toward Israel and the Jews.
The full fact sheet, which is extensively footnoted with sources, strongly suggests that Hagel takes an accommodating view toward Iran, and as evidence calls out five instances in Hagel’s record. These instances include Hagel’s 2001 vote against renewing the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, and a 2007 letter in which Hagel urged then President George W. Bush to engage in “direct, unconditional” talks with Iran to create a “historic new dynamic in US-Iran relations.” Hagel retired from the Senate in 2008.
President Obama reportedly has not yet decided whether he will name Hagel to succeed outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel’s past in the Senate would surely factor into the decision; the Senate rarely turns down one of its own for confirmation, and the appointment of the former Republican senator from Nebraska could be seen as a bi-partisan move. But the bi-partisan value of the appointment is likely to be very limited. Sen. John McCain blasted Hagel over his past remarks regarding the “Jewish lobby” this week. Hagel’s possible nomination has drawn fire from politicos ranging from the Anti-Defamation League to national security experts in both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Anti-Israel and pro-Hamas & Iran. Sounds like the ideal Obama appointee.
If Hagel is chosen, you can be sure he’s anti-Israel.
The fact of the matter is that Hagel is every bit as anti-American and anti-Israel as Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
Despite the fact that Hagel served in the military he very much has an affinity for anti-American thugs. And this goes hand in hand with his hatred for Israel, despite the fact that his supporters demur otherwise. For when one shows an affinity for bloody handed killers, one cannot then feign support for those they want to destroy!
So, even though Hagel is on the one hand a paleo-conservative, he is very much in sync with the radical revolutionary left.And herein lies his support for the most anti-American POTUS in US history.Vice versa.
Just substitute Hagel for Obama (within the following) and one gleans why Hagel as DM would be a western nightmare – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/10/25/sifting-through-barack-hussein-obamas-doublespeak-claiming-he-has-israels-back-not-exactly-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki/
Whither Israel goes (the only western outpost in the barbaric Mid East) so too does America, whether one wants to admit it or not.
Since this guy is a Senator, and it’s the Senate that confirms appointees, he’ll be approved without so much as a how do you do. As will John Kerry (who served in Viet Nam) as Sec State.
Elitist musical chairs.
1. he is a former senator.
2.no kidding. bunch two faced scumbags and in kerry’s and hagel’s case an insult to the military. hang em all.
And to think John Bolton was blocked for “being too close to the Jewish community”, and by a Republican no less.
Reagan sold AWACs and the first 75 F-15s to Saudi Arabia, and his Chief of Staff Meese threatened the Jewish community with anti-Semitism if it opposed the sale.
However, their avionics were hobbled to be useless over Israeli territory.
If that’s the case, he’s probably got a lock on the job.
The detailed fact sheet has some good information, but more connecting the dots is needed to show that Mr. Hagel is unfit. Simply stating that he supported talks with Iran and spoke before J-street and called on defining final status issues are not clear evidence of his anti-Israel or anti-Jewish agenda. It might be interpreted as just being insensitive to Israeli and Jewish concerns.
Some more quotes like the one he made about the Jewish lobby would be revealing. What has he been up to since leaving the Senate? Have the Iraninan and Saudi-backed institutions in Washington like CNI, CAIR and others sent him any fat checks like they do for former State department officials? What has he written about the Middle East? Senators tend to have big egos, and so they should. That means they usually have an extensive record of things they have said and written.
How about contributions to his senate campaigns. Arab petrodollars beats Jewish money hands down.
What is Hegel?
Leftist?
RIghtist?
Some other kind of monkey?
Who is Hegel? Sounds like he might be too good to be true: an old-style American first conservative, your typical mainstream Republican before that party was taken over by neocons. Unlike most of his enemies, he’s seen firsthand young americans die in battle and doesn’t want to see it again unless they’re dying for america, rather than some pet theory of “democracy building” or to protect the right of a jewish ethnonationalist state to lord over non-Jews in perpetuity per divine edict.
If Hagel has done those things in his past, he is Obama’s perfect candidate. Do you think he (Obama) would choose someone who is good for the country? Never.
Men like Hagel are why the people do not trust Republicans. One need not “love” Jews or Israeli’s. The issue is, what nation in that region best represents freedom for all people, democracy, the rule of law, civility, and prosperity?
Can you say Israel? Yes, they have at times been brutal. Stand by as hundreds of rockets fly into your country & then tell me you too would not get a bit upset!!
Many in the world & at the corrupt United Nations are trying to sell the drivel that self defense is wrong. One wonders how those folks would respond to killers targeting their families? I imagine they would also fight fire with fire, of shoot them to be more precise. If not, I suggest their families arrange for paid bodyguards, since their significant other is obviously out of their mind!!!
hagel is an anti-semite. to prove it, hagel is also dumb as a doorknob. perfect choice for the planet’s weirdest american president in history.
Chuck Hagel is an Iranian designed computer virus, as revenge for Stuxnet. He is programmed by Ahmadinejad to infiltrate the Defense Dept on behalf of Iran