In his first
speech as Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel told an audience of U.S. troops and
defense officials at the Pentagon that the U.S. should engage with the world
instead of try to dictate to it.
“We can’t
dictate to the world, but we must engage with the world,” he said. “That
engagement in the world should be done wisely. And the resources that we employ
on behalf of our country and our allies should always be applied
wisely.”
Hagel was
confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday in a 58-41 vote, which according to The
Washington Post was “the narrowest approval ever for a defense secretary
nominee.”
Much of Hagel’s
speech seemed to indirectly rebut the Bush administration’s strong-arm,
with-us-or-against-us diplomatic approach, making clear also that he would not
support wars he viewed as unnecessary.
“I’ll never ask
anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do,” he said, and he emphasized “renew[ing] old
alliances” and “reach[ing] out” to “build new alliances.”
Hagel also
addressed impending military budget cuts, notably leaving out the doomsday
scenarios warned about by his predecessor, Leon Panetta.
Sequestration
“is a reality,” he said. “We need to figure this out.”
Antiwar
Chuck Hagel’s
nomination faced the fiercest opposition for a Defense secretary in more than
two decades, when former Sen. John Tower’s (R-Texas) confirmation was defeated
by Senate Democrats. The Hill Hagel broke from
his party during the administration of George W. Bush to become a fierce critic
of the Iraq war. Reuters Some critics
have charged that Hagel is a weak supporter of Israel, with Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina predicting that Hagel would be “the most
antagonistic secretary of defense” toward Israel. LA Times Hagel drew
particular fire for a quote from his 2008 book, wherein he said, "I'm not an
Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator." He added, "I support Israel, but
my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United
States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for
Senate in Israel, I’ll do that." The Huffington Post Hagel has
rankled many with comments he made in a 2006 interview with former State
Department Mideast peace negotiator Aaron David Miller in which he said that the
“Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people" in Congress, in a reference to AIPAC
and other pro-Israel groups. LA Times However, in his
first interview after being nominated as the next U.S. secretary of defense,
Chuck Hagel told his hometown paper, the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska that
he will show an “unequivocal, total support for Israel.” He said critics have
"completely distorted" his record.
AHT/HJ
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