Hagel: ‘Things Are Worse In Middle East Today Than They Were 3 Yrs Ago'

[kpete]

Hagel: ‘Things Are Worse Off In The Middle East Today Than They Were Three Years Ago’


This weekend, President Bush delivered the commencement address at West Point and declared that his global war on terror is helping to spread freedom in the Middle East:

Decades of excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe. So long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place where terrorists foment resentment and threaten American security. So we are pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.

This morning on Meet the Press, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a strong rebuke of Bush’s assessment of what’s going on in the Middle East:

I think you could make a pretty strong case that things are worse off in the Middle East today than they were three years ago. By measurement of Iraq, by Iran, by the Palestinian-Israeli issue, what’s going on in Egypt. And, I think the United States must use its force of diplomacy to engage Iran.

Hagel isn’t alone in making his argument that the Middle East is worse off since the Iraq invasion.

more at:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/28/hagel-on-middle-east/

[kansasblue]

1. do I love him....or do I hate him?

Excellent Bush critic

vs


concerns about voting fraud. In the state where where ESS started it all.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-3.pdf

[justice1]

2. Look at his voting record.

[saltpoint]

3. I wonder if Hagel might become the un-Bush for the Republicans.

He could win in Iowa and New Hampshire and become the frontrunner almost overnight.

He doesn't get my vote because he's way too conservative. But he looks halfway decent compared to the rest of the GOP pack of cretins. It's a long, long way between Sam Brownback and Chuck Hagel.

[Cosmocat]

5. He is OK ...

Being a "conservative" is one thing, and he DEFINITELY is a conservative ... That means he has a strong loyalty to a flawed ideological model ... Not one of us, and not the system that should be in "power" ... BUT, a reasonable balance in our two party system ...

He is not, however, a rabid, drooling neoconservative ... His tone has always been fairly concillitory (sp), not one of these, we have to stay in power at all costs, and we have to put the left down at every possible opportunity that 85% of the repukes have been the last 6 years ...

AND, he isn't an idiot, like most of them, either ... He is smart, and competent ...

IF the republican party were chock full of Hagels, vs Frists, Hasters, Grahams ... this county would be in a LOT better shape right now ...

[saltpoint]

11. Welcome to DU, Cosmocat. I'm a bit tardy on that welcome, but it's

no less sincere.

Yes. I liked your description of the neo-conservatives, and feel you have accurately represented them.

Iowa is going to be a real interesting caucus this time around -- for both parties, really.

I think Hagel could be holding several high cards.

[Clarkie1]

4. Hagel is a Republican I can respect if not agree with on every issue. n/t

[AndreaCG]

12. Hagel is a crook

he owns part of E S & S voting systems, and likely stole his last election campaign.

But the MSM will never explore this. Neither will the Democrats if he is the candiate.

[Little Star]

6. Hagel is the repug dark horse, imho.

I am to afraid to speak his name out loud. He seems to be reasonable on some issues that would attract moderates. Lets keep his name unknown, shhh.....

[Thickasabrick]

8. The freepers call him a RINO. I love it when they eat their own

[Little Star]

9. Those RINO's could cause us to loose the middle....

They are like wolves in sheep's clothing. He is one repug that really worries me. He can fool allot of people. I fear loosing some of our own to the likes of him if we don't have a really strong candidate.

[teryang]

7. Things are worse here too, despite the propaganda

What did we get for the hundreds of billions in military spending? Does anyone do cost analysis any more?

Shareholders in many defense contractors made money. This is bush's base. Social needs went unmet. Social injustice and the war on the Constitution and the common people made vast inroads. Medicaid was cut in half in our state. Prison populations continue to expode in the so called "land of the free."

The country is not even close to recovering an area from the devastation of an area the size of Great Britain from last years hurricanes.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Well, he has a knack for stating the obvious.