Hagel; Secretary or not Secretary: Iran is the question
President Barack Obama’s choice of Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. defense secretary has hotly debated in US politics.
Mehr News quoted Reuter’s report that Chuck Hagel, who has been nominated for position of US Secretary of Defense by Barack Obama stepped up criticism of the Republicans, and probably, will have to fight an intense combat in Senate chamber to gain the Senate approval.
Yesterday, critics denounced Barack Obama’s proposed independent Republican senator for Pentagon head, Hagel’s positions on Iran and Israel.
Even the thought of Republican Hagel in Democrat Obama’s cabinet is disturbing Republicans
Hagel opposes sanctions and is satisfied with containing Iran, as opposed to preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He wants negotiations with Iran on issues between two sides. Critics oppose his first approach on Iran and would not accept a nuclear Iran.
Hagel’s position on Israel has been targeted by critics in neoconservative section of the Republicans for his critics of Zionist lobby’s influence on Washington.
“I also wonder what message is we sending to Iran, what message are we sending to Israel and I am perplexed that the president has nominated him,” Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire told “Fox News Sunday.”
Netanyahu: Hagel becomes Secretary of Defense and all I got was this lousy T-shirt
Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker reiterated concerns about Hagel’s views on Iran, Israel and U.S. nuclear weapons modernization, but also aired another charge against him: his temperament.
“But I think another thing that’s going to come up is just his overall temperament, and is he suited to run a department or a big agency or a big entity like the Pentagon,” Corker told the ABC’s “This Week.”
“There are numbers of staffers who are coming forth now just talking about the way he has dealt with them,” added Corker, without elaborating.
Defenders of Hagel, including retired general and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the “He knows what war is and he will fight a war if it’s necessary, but he is a guy who will do it with great deliberation and care,” Powell told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Neo-Cons: Hagel? I don’t like him- too far out of the mainstream!
“He’s fought. He has literally walked in their boots,” said Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who also served in the Army.
“That, I think, will inspire great confidence in the military officers and enlisted men that he deals with, and women,” Reed told ABC’s “This Week.”
Powell said many figures in the national security community, including retired Cabinet officials, consider Hagel to be “a solid guy who speaks his mind, he is a good supporter of Israel … but he is not reluctant to disagree when he thinks disagreement is appropriate.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Hagel would replace outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
