Posted on 06/26/2005 5:54:23 AM PDT by hipaatwo
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - More than 200 Nebraska American Legion members, who have seen war and conflict themselves, fell quiet here Saturday as Sen. Chuck Hagel bluntly explained why he believes that the United States is losing the war in Iraq.
Sen. Chuck Hagel addresses more than 200 Nebraska American Legion members in Grand Island on Saturday.
It took 20 minutes, but it boiled down to this:
The Bush team sent in too few troops to fight the war leading to today's chaos and rising deaths of Americans and Iraqis. Terrorists are "pouring in" to Iraq.
Basic living standards are worse than a year ago in Iraq. Civil war is perilously close to erupting there. Allies aren't helping much. The American public is losing its trust in President Bush's handling of the conflict.
And Hagel's deep fear is that it will all plunge into another Vietnam debacle, prompting Congress to force another abrupt pullout as it did in 1975.
"What we don't want to happen is for this to end up another Vietnam," Hagel told the legionnaires, "because the consequences would be catastrophic."
It would be far worse than Vietnam, says Hagel, a twice-wounded veteran of that conflict, which killed 58,000 Americans.
Failure in Iraq could lead to many more American deaths, disrupt U.S. oil supplies, damage the Middle East peace effort, spread terrorism and harm America's stature worldwide, Hagel said.
That's what keeps him on edge these days.
That's why he is again the most outspoken Republican in Congress about Iraq. His view that America is losing in Iraq, which first aired in a newsmagazine last week, prompted rebukes from conservatives such as talk show host Rush Limbaugh, concerns from others in his party and praise from anti-war advocates on the Internet.
But Saturday, he was unrepentant.
"The point is, we're going to have to make some changes or we will lose, we will lose in Iraq," he told the legionnaires.
At the same time, he said, he wants President Bush to win, and he believes that the United States cannot pull out anytime soon.
The legionnaires gave him a standing ovation at the end of his speech. Carl Marks of Omaha, a Korean War veteran, said: "It sounds like he's conflicted . . . like a lot of us."
Bennie Navratil of Hallam, Neb., whose son left last week for military duty in Afghanistan, said, "I feel he said the right thing: that we can't pull out and something's got to change."
Aboard a plane back to Omaha, Hagel was asked whether he thought Bush was aware that adjustments might be needed in his Iraq policy.
"I don't know," Hagel said.
The whole Iraqi situation makes him sick to his stomach, he said.
"It has tormented me, torn me more than any one thing," he said with a grim look on his face. "To see what these guys in Iraq are having to go through and knowing what I know here: that we didn't prepare for it, we didn't understand what we were getting into. And to put those guys in those positions, it makes me so angry."
He lays part of the blame on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who argued before the war that he needed only 150,000 American troops in Iraq. That caused more casualties than were needed, Hagel said.
"We still don't have enough troops," he said. "We should have had double or triple the number."
It has led to a bleak situation, Hagel said:
Insurgent attacks are more frequent than a year ago. Bombs used by insurgents are growing more deadly, piercing America's best protective clothing and equipment. Oil production is down. Electricity is less available than a year ago. Economic development is lagging. Ninety percent of the humanitarian and economic aid pledged by 60 nations hasn't reached Iraq because of the continuing violence. Only one Middle Eastern country has an ambassador in Iraq.
Bush has said America is fighting in Iraq with a "coalition of the willing," allies who have committed a relatively small number of troops and aid.
Hagel scoffed at that idea. "It's a joke to say there's a coalition of the willing," he said, adding that many are pulling out and the United States is fronting the bills for those who remain.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops are under severe strain. Troops are stationed in more than 100 countries, and their rapid tempo of deployments with little time off leaves them fatigued and in danger of making mistakes.
"We are destroying the finest military in the history of mankind, and the (National) Guard, too," he said. "We're stretching our Army to the breaking point."
Public pronouncements from the Bush administration also have gotten under Hagel's skin. Vice President Dick Cheney's recent comments that the insurgents in Iraq are in "the last throes" echo a refrain of the Vietnam era, he said.
Back then, officials saw "the light at the end of the tunnel" in Vietnam, Hagel said.
Toting up all those points, he said, leads him to conclude that the United States is losing in Iraq.
"That doesn't mean we have to lose," he said.
In his speech and in an interview, Hagel offered some ideas that he thinks could help in Iraq:
U.S. troops and others could work harder to train local militias in small Iraqi towns to help identify and take on insurgents. Allies who don't want to enter Iraq could help patrol its borders, blocking terrorists from entering the war-torn country. The training of Iraq's military and military police should be accelerated immediately.
Middle Eastern nations should become more engaged, he said, but it doesn't help when administration officials criticize Egypt and Saudi Arabia for not moving quickly enough toward democratic practices.
Hagel said he shaped his views after many talks recently with senior U.S. military officials; foreign policy experts; Brent Scowcroft, who was the first President Bush's national security adviser; and others. He plans to share his views with the current president and his team and says he feels an urgency he hopes they will share.
The United States has only about six more months to begin to turn things around in Iraq, he said.
"I believe that there can be a good outcome in Iraq," he said. "I also believe there could be a very bad outcome for Iraq. I believe we have a very limited time for that good outcome."
Carl Marks? What were his parents thinking?
Love it. You've pegged them perfectly. ;-)
Mandatory military service?
We had the Vietnam War won after the Tet Offensive.
In his memoirs, the North Vietnam general leading the enemy, admitted that they were ready to seek peace, but the anti-war fervor of the left in America gave them new hope.
Why do I see a similar thing happening here?
Why do a certain brand of Americans always want defeat?
What happened to the real America!?
Imagine the world peace if Republicans and Democrats would be on the same side just once!!
The fear alone would send the enemies scrambling for caves.
Alas, for as long as many defeatists as well as the likes of Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy, two self-loathing sub-humans, infest the halls of Congress, America will always fight the war with one hand tied behind her back.
That's a Viet Nam size operation.
The target here, Iraq, is open terrain, with only 26,000,000 people compared to Viet Nam's 83,000,000.
The density of Coalition troops to natives would be more than 3 times that of the Viet Nam War.
Add to this the fact that more modern weapons are far more effective than those in use in the 1960s, odds are we could have reduced Iraq to being little more than 3 inches tall, totally depopulated, and having all of our forces being required to sleep outdoors, in tents, without access to electric power.
Does Hagel know what he's talking about? I feel terribly uncomfortable having a Senator thoughtlessly advocate what amounts to genocide.
Somebody find those stats, I'm scrambling around trying to find them. When the vote was held as I recall, there was ONE who voted against going to war, who was the one coward? We seemed to have forgotten about that haven't we!
Well stated. Hagel is another damn traitor. He is purposely and directly giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Hagel and his advisers should be hanging from a lamppost. It is directly because of weak mean like Hagel that their sissy fear of another Vietnam will turn into a self-fullfilling prophesy. These bast*rds know exactly what they are doing -- being traitors. If they would just shut the hell up, everything would be fine. All these disgusting pols are putting our brave Warriors' lives at risk.
Bush needs to now realize that there is indeed a second dangerous front to the WOT. It is with the enemy within. The President needs to have a team focused on repudiating these liars the second they open their mouths. It is utterly shameful, the actions of the left and the weak RINOs. If anyone spends any time on the Iraqi blogs they would clearly realize we are NOT losing and that things are moving along as well as expected. For the safety of our brave Warriors the likes of Hagel will soon need to be sent to God.
Chicken Benedict Arnold Little!!
Chuck Hagel, a covetous John McCain wannabee, who thinks nothing of aiding and abetting our enemy with dangerous, "the sky is falling" rhetoric, in order to promote himself into national prominence. He seems oblivious to the fact that his words encourage our enemies.
Here's a ready audience for your views on the war in Iraq.
It's not every day that John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and hawks at the American Enterprise Institute agree on a matter of public policy.
But when it comes to expanding U.S. ground forces, they do.
You really need to read what I posted. I am not saying we are defeated--far from it. Personally, I want to win. I think if we want to win decisively, we've got to ramp up our forces and do what is necessary. Right now, we are trying to win the day with half measures, using a minimum of resources--my fear is that this will just cause us not to lose.
The American people will support a cause if they see forward momentum. If they see stagnation, they will tend to think we are in a quagmire. We are allowing terrorists to operate from Syria and Iran with relative impunity. We need to have sufficient forces in place to stop this, or neutralize those regimes. That can't be done with words or wishes--it takes troops and $$.
It is the conventional wisdom that a draft will cause the American people to loose support for a given conflict. While this may be true, we have no draft right now and support is still waning. Why? Because the majority of Americans have almost NO stake in this conflict. If their sons and daughers were in the military, they'd want to make damn sure that this conflict was won quickly and decisively.
many of those are contingents at embassies; helps push the country count up.
Perhaps to soothe your anger we should fight this war on our home turf. The soldiers could not only put their lifes on the line but their families' lifes on the line. We could sacrifice our own citizens and our own infrastructure to combat a problem born and raised in the ME.
This is the headline news crowd, see the headline, jump to conclusions. Thanks for pointing out that reading the article is a good thing.
Sooooo .. Hagel has decided to revise the John Kerry role from Vietnam and apply it to Iraq.
I wonder if Hagel realizes that his statements won't just turn off former military people .. the general public won't buy it either.
"The American people will support a cause if they see forward momentum. If they see stagnation, they will tend to think we are in a quagmire."
The media are doing their best they can in only covering the negative.
There are reports from 2nd time deployments in Iraq that say the change is dramatic in the progress made.
Wish I could find the link.
see post #46. We do NOT need anymore troops in Iraq, they would be targets. Most of the troops now there are not engaged in combat operations. War is always messy. The greatest danger our troops face is the enemy within the US. Our troops are put into direct danger because the traitors like Hagel give great joy to the terrorists. The terrorists get tremendous inspiration from knowing the weak pols are turning against the war. The terrorist leaders are very media savvy and know the legacy of Vietnam.
The left and the MSM are purposely and gleefully pulling out all stops to turn this into a defeat. You imply we should go into Syria? Even though it would make sense militarily, the second our troops crossed the border, the MSM and most of Congress would declare Bush worse than Hitler, Stalin and Mao combined. The main problem our troops face in Iraq is the enemy in the US.
I cannot emphasize enough. People should read the various Iraqi blogs and you get a more objective perspective on the situation in Iraq. Start at iraqthemodel.com Another blog that gathers invaluable information on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan is http://www.chrenkoff.blogspot.com/ Chrenkoff is linked and quoted by opinionjournal.com on a regular basis.
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