Chuck Hagel: Quit Talking About The Surge, Focus On War's Future

OMAHA, Neb. — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge.

Hagel mentioned both candidates, but his comments seemed directed at Republican John McCain. McCain, while Obama traveled the Middle East, attacked Obama for opposing the military escalation last year that increased security in Iraq.

"Quit talking about, 'Did the surge work or not work,' or, 'Did you vote for this or support this,'" Hagel said Thursday on a conference call with reporters.

"Get out of that. We're done with that. How are we going to project forward?" the Nebraska senator said. "What are we going to do for the next four years to protect the interest of America and our allies and restructure a new order in the world. ... That's what America needs to hear from these two candidates. And that's where I am."

Hagel, too, opposed the troop increase strategy, though he acknowledged Thursday it brought about positive changes. "When you flood the zone with superior American military firepower, and you put 30,000 of the world's best troops in a country, there's going to be a result there," Hagel said.

Whether the surge worked, though, can't be measured, Hagel said, arguing the small gains came at a high price. He said President Bush's decision last year to dispatch an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq has cost more than 1,000 American lives and billions of dollars.

Though Hagel is a Republican, his name has been floated as a potential vice presidential running mate for Obama. Like McCain, he is a Vietnam war veteran, but Hagel is a fierce critic of the war in Iraq. He has said he would consider running with Obama on the Democratic ticket but that he doesn't expect to be asked. He is not running for reelection.

Hagel joined Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island in traveling with Obama to the Middle East. Reed said the trip was productive. "It wasn't just a photo op and social chit chat," Reed said in a telephone interview.

Reed said the group pressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to have the Iraqi government do more.

"Unless the government of Iraq can start delivering _ delivering jobs, delivering funds, performing _ then the gains that have been made will be quickly erased," Reed said. "I think that is a point that we all stressed, particularly Senator Obama, with the prime minister."

___

Associated Press Writer Andrew Miga in Washington contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS that Hagel has said in the past, not Thursday, he would run.)

Comments

[bkadams]

If McCain talks about the economy he only draws attention to how bad things are. Ford just had it's worse quarterly loss in its history (almost $9 billion) and it's stock is down to about $5.. that's almost insolvent. Housing is still an abyss and you now have reputable analysts saying the cost of the various bailouts can be as much as one or two trillion dollars.

No, McCain can only talk about the surge because it's all he's got to talk about. You may as well call him McSurge.

[nicholasclaxton]

The Surge....seems to always remind me of the old movie "The Siege" ...

Alas...where's the Surge to save American Jobs, American Banks, American Homes, and Americans...

The focal point needs to be re-focussed back to this economy...Iraq Distracts!

[TellitLikeItIs]

nicholasclaxton: Absolutely! The distraction needs to come to an end!

[thehand]

Hey Huffpo call Cheney and see if you can get permission to do something on Bushie's impeachment hearing that is on CSPAN

[Garvagh]

Excellent piece! The cost of the "surge" is in the tens of billions of dollars, and in my view this country would have done much better to work with Syria and Iran to achieve greater stability in Iraq in the context of a withdrawal of all American military forces.

The very presence of the huge American war machine in Iraq fosters more instability in the region, and hatred of the US, than it dampens down within Iraq itself.

John McCain clearly is seeking permanent US military bases in Iraq, to benefit the oil companies and, sadly, to give militarist Israelis reason to believe they can try to deny the legitimate national aspirations of the repressed Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (and elsewhere in the region).

[exotic]

Go Chuck Hagel....

Obama/Hagel '08

[Meteor]

Can't navigate comments!

[patrickgarret]

Wait.."mission" was "accomplished" years ago. I don't understand. What are we doing now? What's the strategic goal? LOL Oh yah...wasting 10 billion a month, and idiotic red staters don't think that MIGHT have something to do with the economy. Math never was our strength.

[thirteen13]

What war? You don't occupy a country you invaded by losing the war. The occupiers are the victors.
The USA military is occupying a sovereign nation.
The Iraq war was evil, the occupation brutal and refusal to leave suicidal.

[DoTheMath]

My boss, a former Navy SEAL, says the kind of open-ended, ill-defined mission that keeps us in Iraq has NO CHANCE of succeeding. If one country conquers and occupies another, the conquering power may be able to "win" if it is strong enough to control the other country.

On the other hand, the idea of one country invading another country and keeping troops there until we're sure they're stable and will continue to be after we leave and that they will govern themselves in a way that we approve of is ABSURD.

Either the neocons don't know this, which is unlikely, or this occupation is benefiting them, so they don't care what it is costing others.

[AzRealProgressive]

What war is well said by you. For all intents and purposes it is over. I think the author makes this point. The second war in Iraq, the insurgency war has been won. We invaded, we did what we set out to do. Now we have won the insurgency war.

Again you are right, we are victorious. History may validtate your thoughts on the war. Then again, possibly not.

[joshrox]

You Obamanuts just slay me, Hagel for VP, sure thats a real good idea. That would all but assure (ass-u-r) the republicans the WH in 8 years. Use the brain you were born with, THINK PEOPLE THINK.

Hagel is nothing more than an opportunist, plain and simple.

[abby4ever]

What I think is that you are nuts.

Plain and simple.

[faithfully]

I disagree. If Hagel were to run with Obama he would become a member of the Democratic party, I would think, He is a war hero, a successful businessman and exudes strength, judgement, and competence.

[pghpat]

You are dreaming if you think Hagel would become a Dem.

[GLaB]

There are millions of people who've worked for, supported, and voted for the goals of the Democratic Party for their entire lives - and virtually every step of the way Chuck Hagel has opposed us.

Obama selecting Hagel for his VP running mate would guarantee a Republican victory in November - unless, of course, the Democratic Delegates tossed him on the scrapheap at the Convention.

[jmbrooks2]

I'm from Nebraska, as is Hagel. This guy is one of the most conservative members of the Senate. As for his opposition for the war in Iraq, it takes an idiot to continue to support this current (lack of) policy. Hagel is very conservative, and not an idiot.

[ndngrrl71]

As a moderate Democrat I would like to see Chuck Hagel as the VP. I don't think Democrats would view it as sacreligious to put a Republican on the ticket. We don't want to lose any seats in the Senate nor do we want to lose any Democratic Governors. Hagel understands the difference between war and conflicts. Did the surge really work? The Bush administration has never established measurables so how can they determine that it worked. Like Hagel said 1,000+ dead soldiers did it really work?

[SaltySaltillo]

Two problems with Hagel: (1) other than the war, he really does vote like a Republican on most issues and (2) the whole point of VP is to replace the dead president ... if Obama dies, can you live with a Republican White House again, even if it is Hagel?

[Insideout143]

and (3) Hagel has strong involvement in the very faulty voting machines that have skewed our elections!

[Kungfublood]

Save the war
vote McCain

[nicholasclaxton]

TRY THIS ONE!
"SAVE THE PEOPLE -- VOTE OBAMA"

[TellitLikeItIs]

I think Kungfublood was joshing......!

[shelobo]

I guess no one noticed that since George Bush began to beat the war-drum for an invasion of Iraq, the value of Exxon’s reserves has risen by $2 TRILLION ,Major oil companies reported record GAINS not loss's.When the surge began,Oil rose even more ,why ,because Iraqs oil was slowed down by the troop surge !Last year, Exxon spent $36 billion of its $40 BILLION income on dividends and special payouts to stockholders in tax-free buy-backs. The rants over the troop surge is nothing but a smoke screen to distract VOTERS from the REAL problems here .As long as the Republicans keep people and Obama sidetracked by ranting about the surge ,the main problems remain on the back burner ,slowly simmering into WORSE problems!Obama needs to focus on OUR economy,our health care issues and saving the middle class and the poor from Rich politicans like Bush and McCain .

[DeadCivilian]

Utter lunacy. Now is the time in our species development for the sick, insane, degenerate old men who support these conflicts to suit up and fight it themselves. The only reason any of this is possible in the first place is by brainwashing young people into believing in concepts like 'patriotism' or 'dying for (insert your cause here)'. As if any of our so-called leaders has any clue what is actually going to happen in Iraq or Afghanistan.

NO ONE, in this government, the media or even on these blogs is even questioning the very premise of a failed foreign policy stretching back over 60 or more years. Control and distribution of resources and who reaps those profits are all this was ever about. The surge? THE SURGE? Are you freaking kidding me? Did what? Proved what? That we can hang around a desert with the most sophisticated weaponry in the history of the entire world and thus secure a small area for a period of time. Wow. We're so impressive. Apes with high-tech clubs is all we are. I'm still waiting for that "Peace through strength" we've been hearing about since, uh, forever. Those who advocate peace are laughed out of the room.

Enjoy your 'armageddon'. Good thing Jesus/Yaweh/Allah/Mohamed/Krishna/SunMyung/MorganFreeman/ is coming to set it all right.

You cackle like chicken. I gotcher 'surge' right here.

[AzRealProgressive]

My, you certainly are an optimist. Nice rant, flows well, ends with an insult to all.If you really feel that way about America, why not find a better place? Surely your conscience weighs heavily on you every day for being here?

[DeadCivilian]

I understand your frustration with my 'rant' as you call it. I'm sorry that I wasn't clear on who was cackling - I meant those debating the minutia of 'the surge worked/didn't work'. It's a sideshow to the bigger picture mentioned in my first paragraph - the whole premise of waging wars to establish control of resources. Anyone who understands Newton's 3rd law (every action has an equal and opposite reaction) or the history of occupations knows that they simply cannot work; those who are tortured and brutalized fight back; those who are occupied rebel.

You are also correct; my conscience does indeed weigh heavily on me for being here. As it should for any American who sits by while their taxes pay for unspeakable horrors perpetrated on families they never met, all over the planet, by puppet regimes, dictators we support(ed), governments we arm, or mercenaries we hire (Blackwater). 'Shock and Awe', 'The Surge', 'War on Terror' - use whichever name the brainwashers are using this week - the end result is the same.

These things are happening, right now, with your money. If you take a hard look, you may find yourself 'ranting' as well. We should be in the streets screaming for the perpetrators' trials and imprisonment. I do believe in optimism, but not blind optimism. We Americans have remained sedated and blinded way past too long.

'Comfortably Numb' was a popular song for a reason.

[azyuwish]

BEST comment on the thread! You said it all, cutting right to the heart of the issue. Bingo! Bulls Eye!

[TellitLikeItIs]

You nailed it on the head! Unfortunately, there are many who would not even begin to grasp what you're talking about. I'm hoping that there are a lot more who "get it".

[hughbetcha]

Yes, please stop talking about the surge because you see I opposed it and if you keep talking about it I end up looking bad. Let's get past all that success stuff and get back to our failures in Iraq, a subject I never tire of because it makes me look prescient again. `Hagel for Vice-President...Opportunistic, Self-hating, Grandstanding!'

[Coinyer101]

and much smarter than you.

[hlawyer]

It is like a gordian knot, isn't it? Bush doesn't want to talk about WMD's, because he was completely wrong. Republicans don't want to talk about the mission accomplished incident, or the war in Afghanistan, because they screwed that up. What they do want to talk about is anything that worked, however temporarily. Of course, Democrats would prefer not to discuss that.

Where Hagel is right, is in actually discussing what we are going to do. I can't believe anyone, however partisan, could disagree with the importance of that. Americans deserve (maybe deserve is too strong, since they are so willing to be caught up in the trivialities of politics) to know what the plan is over there. How much more money are we going to spend? How much longer will this take?

[Topfeeder]

Better topic would be, let's talk about the faulty intelligence that the Executive Office and the military renditioned, and water boarded out of Muslims that caused us to enter a misguided search for non-existent WMD's and cost taxpayers billions of dollars in a trumped up war. Let's talk about charging Bush and Cheney with war crimes for ordering those actions. That's a much more interesting topic than a little ol' surge.

[shelobo]

You have a good point there,IF McCain is elected ,Bush and anyone else that is guilty of war crimes will be pardoned BY McCain! Bush and Cheney KNOW they are guilty of telling the American people LIES to go to war against Iraq,a country that had nothing to do with 911 .McCain IS a Bush butt buddy,he's also a Republican flipflopper ,a warmonger is the only title McCain has a right to.

[thirteen13]

Chaney-Bush are nothing more than enablers of the Republican effort to deregulate and trash our economy. With Democratic support. They remind me of Osama bin Laden and his side kick with the bulls eye on his forehead. They are all criminals using other people to do the dirty dangerous jobs like "shock and awe" (Chaney-Bush) and fly jet liners into the world trade center buildings (bin Laden-Bullseye).

The irony of it all is that oil dollars are backing both sides.

[doctorwang]

If it's such a success we should be able to withdraw our troops...... and not plan on leaving them in harms way for another 5, 10, or 100 years.

[shelobo]

BINGO,and if it was such a huge success why are servicemen being sent BACK again and again (my nephew just went back on his thrird tour)when the Iraqi goverment wants our troops and USA control OUT !!Afganistan was where WE were supposed to be ,Bush decided he want to settle a old score with Saddam Hussien and LIED to Congress and Americans to get his revenge !

[JimR]

If the surge worked, our troops can come home.

Right?

[DerekRC]

We still have troops in S. Korea, Germany, Japan etc...

Are you demanding their return as well, or simply trying to be a good Democrat?

[TeriMcCarthy]

I like Chuck Hagel more and more.

[abby4ever]

Very many people on this thread have said the same thing. He has class.

[TellitLikeItIs]

When I think of the most vocal opponent of the surge, it would have to be Rep. John Murtha, of Pennsylvania. Is he still around, or has he just been on a slow boat to China lately?

However, I also sensed that the smart campaign would have things covered---- as we see!

Thank you Senator Hagel..... Your honesty and courage are appreciated!

[mesut]

I agree with Sen Hagel. Sen McCain has been stomping his foot like a spoiled child. Every time he says "the surge" I see my three year old daughter fall out in the fall throwing a temper tantrum. It's beyond "the surge" now and saying the word won't change the situation. The real work should be taking place after "the surge" which is so much more important