Sen. Skeptic : Chuck Hagel is Bush's #1 war critic in Congress - R., France - Brief Article

National Review, August 12, 2002 by John J. Miller

For a time, Hagel was one of Lott's favorites. The honeymoon ended abruptly in 1998, however, after Hagel lit into Lott and the Senate leadership for approving the enormous spending increases in budget negotiations that fall. They felt that Hagel might at least have acknowledged his own role in driving costs upward, because he had pressed successfully for an $18 billion bailout package for the International Monetary Fund. The Nebraskan spoke of challenging Lott for the majority-leader post, but wound up instead taking on Mitch McConnell for chairmanship of the Senate GOP's election committee. He lost that race badly, 39-13, dashing what once looked like a bright future as a party leader inside the Senate.

There's nothing Hagel likes less than talking about right and wrong in the context of foreign policy. Pro-Israeli groups view him almost uniformly as a problem. "He doesn't always cast bad votes, but he always says the wrong thing," comments an Israel supporter who watches Congress. An April speech is a case in point. "We will need a wider lens to grasp the complex nature and consequences of terrorism," said Hagel. He went on to cite a few examples of terrorism: FARC in Colombia, Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, and the Palestinian suicide bombers. Then he continued, "Arabs and Palestinians view the civilian casualties resulting from Israeli military occupation as terrorism." He didn't exactly say he shares this view -- but he also failed to reject it.

"Foreign policy is not some theoretical, esoteric, Kissinger-esque thing hanging out there. It's foreign trade," Hagel said in 1998. Like a few other farm-state senators, he hasn't met a country he won't trade with. Last year, Hagel was one of just two senators who voted against extending the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. He's strongly opposed to the trade embargo against Cuba -- so much so, in fact, that he was the single lawmaker Jimmy Carter invited to accompany him to Havana this year. Hagel considered going, but ultimately didn't because he wanted to participate in the Senate debate over Trade Promotion Authority. He nevertheless hailed Carter's trip: "What Jimmy Carter's saying . . . is exactly right: Our 40-year policy toward Cuba is senseless." Hagel so staunchly advocates trade with China that he's willing to sell out a traditional U.S. ally. "When we say we're going to defend Taiwan, what are we saying there?" he asked a New York Times reporter three years ago. "Are we saying that if the Chinese send a missile over, we're at war with China? It's a big thing to say. I think we're rather careless."

Hagel certainly knows something about carelessness. In 1998, when the Lewinsky scandal was smashing Bill Clinton's credibility, Hagel gave a speech on global conflict. It was vintage Hagel, full of high-minded apprehension, and it earned the rookie senator plaudits from the likes of the Washington Post's David Broder, the embodiment of the capital's liberal establishment. "Congress must be very careful in what we say and what we do as we proceed along a very dangerous path. We must be careful not to weaken or neuter the president in front of the world," said Hagel. "America must speak to the world with some sense and some semblance of unity. We cannot allow our foreign policy to unravel before the eyes of the world during a very dangerous time."