Can We Afford Hagel?

The latest Washington buzz is that president Obama is likely to name former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. It is hard to imagine a worse choice. Just think what Hagel has done.

1) Hagel voted against a bill naming Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terror organization. Think about that. The Revolutionary Guards are the ones who smuggled IEDs into Iraq for use against American forces and local civilian populations. The Revolutionary Guards are the ones who smuggle weapons into Afghanistan for the Taliban. The Revolutionary Guards are the folks who get weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah including the missiles that get fired haphazardly into Israel. The Revolutionary Guards are the ones who were implicated as planning the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina which killed close to 100 civilians. To Hagel, however, they did not qualify as terrorists.

2) Hagel consistently voted against the imposition of sanctions on Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The sanctions all passed in the senate, but to Hagel, a nuclear Iran was not something to prevent.

3) Hagel voted against a resolution calling upon the European Union to join the USA in naming Hezbollah a terrorist group. Unbelievable!

The list could go on, but the point is clear: Hagel is the wrong person to have to carry out American military actions. Right now, the most likely adversary for the USA beyond al Qaeda is Iran and its proxy terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas. Given Hagel's record, how can he possibly hope to lead such an effort?