California Conservative

The old cliche goes that an optimist sees a glass as half full and that a pessimist sees that glass as half empty. When Little Chuckie Hagel looks at the ‘Iraq Glass’, he sees it as completely empty. Sen. Hagel has been the most negative politician when it comes to the war, worse than even pacifist John Murtha. It comes as no surprise, then, that Sen. Hagel has written an op-ed in this morning’s Washington Post. I presume that his intent was a shot across Gen. Petraeus’ bow just before he testifies before Congress.

Let’s be clear about something: I hope that Hagel runs for president. Change that. I PRAY that he runs for president. It isn’t that I want him as Commander-in-Chief. It’s that he’d have trouble garnering more than a handful of votes. Even better news is that that would prevent Republicans from wasting money on a primary fight in Nebraska. If Sen. Hagel ran, then we could nominate a real Republican.

Here’s a sampling of Sen. Hagel’s bilge:

We must start by understanding what’s really happening in Iraq. According to the National Intelligence Estimate released in February, the conflict has become a “self-sustaining inter-sectarian struggle between Shia and Sunnis” and also includes “extensive Shia-on-Shia violence.” This means that Iraq is being consumed by sectarian warfare, much of it driven by Shiite or Sunni militias — not al-Qaeda terrorists. Yes, there are admirers of Osama bin Laden in the country, including a full-blown al-Qaeda branch. But terrorists are not the core problem; Sunni-Shiite violence is. The Bush administration’s rhetoric has not been nearly clear enough on this key point.

American occupation cannot stop a civil war in Iraq. Our military, superb as it is, can only do so much. The only lasting answer to Iraq’s anguish will come from a political resolution. There will be no military solution in Iraq.

So how can America influence the Iraqis to reconcile their differences, at least enough to form some kind of responsible government?

First, we must recognize that we have few good options in Iraq and that we are dealing with dynamics that lie mostly beyond our control.

Second, we must do all we can to encourage a comprehensive regional security framework, which includes engaging Syria and Iran. The regional security conference next month in Egypt is an opportunity we must not miss. We cannot solve the problems in Iraq by ourselves. We will have to work more closely with our Middle East allies than ever before, and that means addressing the nearly universal perception in the Middle East that we are imposing our will on the region for our own purposes.

To get more help from our regional friends, we must also have Middle Eastern countries see the Iraqi government as credible, not a U.S. puppet. And to get our regional strategy right, we must clearly recognize the depth of the Sunni-Shiite split and factor it into our Middle East policy and relationships. If we do not, the region could explode into ethnic and religious conflict.

Third, and closer to home, the administration and Congress must untangle themselves from the debate over funding our continued involvement in Iraq. The Iraqis must be jolted into understanding that America’s continued commitment of troops and money is not open-ended. Significantly, American leaders in Iraq told me that they believed the debate on this issue in Congress had actually helped them get Iraqi leaders to grasp this point.

Talk about wall-to-wall negativity. Talk about wall-to-wall stupidity. First off, the violence is being funded by Iran. Knowing that, why would they do anything other than fund more violence? The last thing they want is a stable Iraqi government. The last thing they want is a stable Iraqi democracy.

What I find most troubling is the paragraph that says “we must do all we can to encourage a comprehensive regional security framework, which includes engaging Syria and Iran. The regional security conference next month in Egypt is an opportunity we must not miss. We cannot solve the problems in Iraq by ourselves. We will have to work more closely with our Middle East allies than ever before”

Is Sen. Hagel suggesting that Iran is an ally? Or is he simply saying that we must bring Iran’s terrorists into a conference that’s intended to bring about partnerships in solving Iraq’s violence? If Sen. Hagel really thinks this plan will work, then he’s delusional and unfit to perform his ‘advise and consent’ function in the Senate.

Sen. Hagel’s pessimism isn’t worthy of being considered advice. Instead, it’s worthy of being considered worthless bilge that thinking people should ignore. It’s bilge that’s only worthy of consideration if you’re a BDS-afflicted idiot.

Technorati Tags: Chuck Hagel, John Murtha, Iraq, Iran, Military, Diplomacy, Middle East, Moonbat, Defeatocrat, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Military, Terrorism, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.