Allen L Roland: Chuck Hagel is Right Person at Right Time!

Chuck Hagel is the right person at exactly the right time as Secretary of Defense, for his thinking is in concert with main street America, but not necessarily in agreement with our AIPAC cominated Congress. Chuck Hagel is a potential breath of fresh air in the corporate polluted and AIPAC dominated belt way, which enjoys a good or excellent Congressional approval rating, from a scant 9% of American voters, and where 53% of Americans still rightfully feel that neither party represents the American people. Watch and listen to Hagel's opening statement, and you'll witness a humble and plain speaking American patriot, who has seen war and carnage first hand as an infantryman in Vietnam, and who is committed to this refreshing declaration "that our military policies must be worthy of the sacrifices of our military and their families." At the end of these nomination hearings, the impact of the Hagel nomination could well be more about the future of the Republican Party. Susan Eisenhower correctly writes on January 9th: "The Republican Party is now at a crossroads. Over the last decade, moderate Republicans have felt increasingly out of place in its ranks. If the GOP confirms Hagel, it could bolster the idea of a "big tent" Republican Party. A GOP led rejection of a Republican war hero with impeccable centrist credentials, however, could well be a fatal blow to that concept, along with some of the party's longest and most successful traditions. Uri Avery in Israel, precisely summed up my feelings about the Hagel nomination on January 12, 2013: I find Chuck Hagel eminently likeable. I am not quite certain why. Perhaps it's his war record. He was decorated for valor in the Vietnam War. He was a mere sergeant. Since I was a mere corporal in our 1948 war, I find it elating to see a non commissioned officer become Minister of Defense. Like so many veterans, who have seen war from close up, he has become an enemy of war. Wonderful, now Hagel is violently attacked by all the neo-con warmongers. Almost none of whom has ever heard a bullet whistle in the wars to which they sent others, and the combined political regiments of the American Jewish establishment. His main sin seems to be that he objects to war against Iran.