[stevem]

Lstening to little men in high places is torture.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Hagel's just using the FN John "How to form a policy" process -

Step 1: Stand in the breeze of a CBSNBCABC/CNN/NYT/WP poll
Step 2: Stick your finger into the wind
Step 3: Determine your opinion
Step 4: Find a platform to spew your deep cogitations
Step 5: In the event of a negative response feign outrage and dare anyone to question your patriotism

The best way to end war and ensure peace is to kill the enemy.

[paul51]

Hagel sounds alarm over provides more encouragement for our enemies in Iraq

[nathanbedford]

Vice President Cheney, a man whom I admire and respect as much as any living American, has expressed an entirely different view, the insurgents are "in their last throes." His assessment has been confirmed by Porter Goss, the Director of the CIA and a man also worthy of great respect, especially when he speaks within his area of responsibility and in a manner which leaves him little wiggle room if things go wrong.

There is no middle ground here, Cheney and Hagel cannot both be right. One must be wrong. But which?

One thing I know: We cannot find the truth of the matter, except by accident, by weighing the left or right wing tendencies of the advocates. A real democracy must decide matters of destiny not by resort to personality but by examination of the facts.

I have not read any replies to this thread yet, but I can bet that several have committed the sin which I warn against. Hagel might well be wrong, but he is not wrong, or even suspect because he is a RINO.

Let those who would persuade us to one side of another do so with facts.

Meanwhile, no matter what the consensus on Hagel's view of the war, no one is likely to argue with his prescription which offers commonsense if not new thinking:

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.

I would certainly add to this that we must bring the leaders in Iraq, not excluding the clergy, to accept that they have a stake in its stability and the success of the new government. Therefore, they should see to it that Iraqis themselves fight to preserve that stake and even their own lives.

[Moonman62]

Why do I get the feeling that Hagel has a girlfriend who opposes the war in Iraq?

[68 grunt]

Hagel, you dumb son of a bitch, the terrorists are pouring into Iraq, and we're killing 'em. They are not coming here to kill us. Why didn't those damn terrorist crash one of their planes into the congress (in full session).

[wildcatf4f3]

Carl Marks? What were his parents thinking?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Hey Chuck, can't you read?!!!!

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.

[elhombrelibre]

We could stop the insurgents by keeping the president's word about going after nations that aid and abet terrorists. Syria can always funnel terrorists to attack Americans. They can always arm them for this low level violence. Everyone knows it. But we do nothing while good Americans die. Assad plays us for a fool.
Where is the anger? He kills in Lebanon and uses proxies to kill us in Iraq.

[muawiyah]

Hagel lost any attention I'd might have paid him when he got to "triple". That would be 450,000 American troops plus over 100,000 others.

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.

[Racehorse]

Here's a ready audience for your views on the war in Iraq.

[RGSpincich]

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.

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.

[CyberAnt]

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.

[Americanexpat]

Funny how he says Iraq has less electricity than they did a year ago. On that statement alone I know he is lying.

A year ago most of the power line towers had been destroyed, torn down so thieves could steal the copper from the cables. A little over a year ago those towers were rebuilt, I know, I was there providing security for the contractors that did the work. Electricity was restored and more Iraqis throughout Iraq, not just Baghdad, have electricity.

He wants to help win the war instead of whining he can help the president put pressure on those countries supplying terrorist to kill Americans and Iraqis in Iraq.

[conservativecorner]

What a RINO POS!! Hell, he's carrying the water for the Demoncrats. I have come to the conclusion that we have nothing but A-Holes in the senate.

[TADSLOS]

We're not losing the war in Iraq from Iraq, we're losing it from the U.S. thanks to people like Senator Hagel. He and others of his ilk are ammo handlers for terrorists as far as I'm concerned. Hagel is a useful idiot.

[ZULU]

Hegel is a viper right up there iwth McCain and Voinovich.

[ZULU]

Hegel is a viper right up there iwth McCain and Voinovich.

[atlanta67]

there arew some legitimate criticisms such as too few troops.

but he is a defeatist. and no we're not losing.

hom many provices or privincial capitals have fallen to the "insurgents" recently?

the terrorists cannot defeat the US military or even the Iraqi military, that can only be done by people like Hagel


PS Hagel is far far worse than MCCain.

Ive noticed a pattern, like a tag team.

MCCain is mostly ok on foreign policy, while a real pain on domestic issues.

Hagel is ok on domestic issues while a real pain on foreign policy

[Reader of news]

Hagel would like Iraq to seem Vietnam by 2007 and 2008. Then he would run for President as a moderate Republican opposed to President Bush's policy on Iraq. He's more interest in himself than in America's security. RINOs like him are a disgrace for the GOP.