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."

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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

[RobtBrock]

"Surge" is yet another goofy Republican term that masks what was effective and that was the counter-insurgency tactics employed by General Petraeus. He had effectively used those tactics in Anbar while Donald Rumsfeld was still denying that there even was an insurgency. All well documented in Thomas Ricks' book, Fiasco.

The "surge" worked because Rumsfeld was gaffed and the US stopped blowing the hell out of neighborhoods and began holding and working with people gaining their trust. The number of troops is not particularly important but the method of addressing problems is vitally important.

Question: Will the Iraqi government be able to create a lasting deal involving Sunni & Shia? Will they work out a deal on oil revenues that is fair and reasonable? All up in the air...

[JJ30]

At least someone finally said it! Thanks Hagel and many of us totally agree with you. Who cares if the surge worked or not? We have more important issues facing us. Leave the past in the past and move into the future.

[Ariadne]

Thanks for nothing mods. What have I said that is so controversial?

[Ariadne]

Dalai Lama and JSM are going to meet in Aspen. Will they discuss how war is the answer to all problems? I doubt the esteemed candidate will be touched by the wisdom of the man of peace.

[Ariadne]

Mc Caint arrived here in Denver last night for his upcoming meeting with the Dalai Lama. He should be a peacenik by the weekend I hope.

[Warmglobe]

No Chuck we will keep talking about it and who voted for it...more so because you are againtst it

[SCG]

Mc Cain is focused on the war's future, staying 100 years.

[booker52]

We all should start calling McCain "Johnny One Note" because just like Rudy G. and 9-11 the surge has become his cry. Now the reporters have fallen in step and ask that question like clockwork. I for one am tired of that question and John McCain talking about it. This war should of never been started. As for the surge, lets call it was it really was, as escalation in troops.

[joeyp404]

Maybe we should stop talking about who voted for the war too, eh Chuck?

[TLV]

The commanders on the ground are now saying that the civil war is all but over. Why shouldn't we let our men and women come home? We all know the answer to that. In Afghanistan, the troops were and are still being used to guard the installation of oil and gas pipelines through the country and out to the ports. The same will be true in Iraq. It was, is, and will always be about the oil.

[Peddler]

Whether the surge worked, though, can't be measured, Hagel said; stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge. If something can't be measured. then how do you measure "success?" Is Hagel having a senior moment? Another gaffe.....And Americans wonder what to believe and who is actually telling the truth.....just another political dicotomy......"surge" is just another word, like "friendly fire," they only exist in the minds of those who speak it.

[tyrodin]

McTurtle thinks after 9/11 we invaded Iraq BEFORE we attacked Afghanistan. He also doesn't know when the surge began or what it involved. Either he has alzheimers or he’s lying like a typical neo-con. It’s hard to tell, but I've never seen a Republican pass by a nasty lie without repeating it. It's ingrained in their cult now.

[TLV]

I am beginning to wonder if McCain was privy to a view of the first plane hitting the WTC just as Bush was. Bush mentioned it at least twice in public that he saw it BEFORE going into the Florida classroom and thought the pilot must be a pretty bad on!. In that case, McCain would not consider 9/11 much of a big deal if he knew it was planned by our military and that the operation to follow not really worth mentioning. As a military man and a friend to the oil industry, he might actually consider the sacrifices Americans made during all of that "worth it."

[frappe]

The "surge" is but a tactical component within a larger policy that has been proven to be a historic blunder -- a monumental disaster -- unrivaled in our foreign policy affairs. Most of America already knows and understands that the war in Iraq was the result of a huge scam perpetrated on the citizenry by a small group who successfully manipulated the press into doing much of their selling of the war. The bottom line is that we should never have invaded Iraq. It was a war of choice and a bad choice at that. The real terrorists still remain in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Nothing. We would be wise to focus our limited resources and effort where it will do the most good rather than continue to pour our blood and our treasure into what has become a huge black hole.

[DRPike]

So much truth today, it almost gives one hope. Well said.

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

I thought McCane's economic plan was "the surge is workin'"?

[marymansour]

Hagel is so right. It seems that the GOP can only hark back to past events. There is nothing forward seeing among the Republicans. Hagel is one of the rare exceptions.