Hagel and Brennan Nominations

by Stephen Lendman

Senate confirmation on both is required. Expect little opposition to Brennan. More on him below.

Republicans will challenge Hagel. At issue is political opportunism more than who serves. Questions about Obama's nominee are exaggerated. More on that below.

Rarely ever are presidential nominations rejected. Expect nothing different this time. Candidates are carefully vetted. Selection depends on full support for US policies.

Hagel is a reliable imperial supporter. His Senatorial voting record offers proof. The Peace Majority Report rated him highly. The lower the score, the higher the rating. He scored 5%. John McCain got 4%, Joe Lieberman 26%, and Bill Clinton 74%.

The American Conservative Union called him solidly Republican. It gave him a lifetime 84% rating.

In 1996, Hagel suspiciously defeated Nebraska's popular Democrat governor Ben Nelson.

At stake was a US Senate seat. Polls suggested a close race. Hagel won by 15 points. Few Nebraskans knew about Hagel's ties.

He was part owner, chairman and CEO of Election Systems & Software (ES&S). It's an electronic voting machine company.

At the time, it was called American Information Systems. AIS' parent company founder, Michael McCarthy, was Hagel's campaign treasurer. His easy victory made winning suspect.

He never disclosed his business ties. A Senate Ethics Committee investigation was requested. It was rejected. Nothing followed. Expect little or nothing said now.

Hagel serves as chairman of the Atlantic Council (ACUS). In 1961, former Secretaries of State Dean Acheson and Christian Herter established it. It was done to support NATO.

It's headquartered in Washington. It supports Washington's global agenda. Past and current members include a rogue's gallery of reliable American imperial supporters.

Among others, they include Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, James Schlesinger, James Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski, James Jones, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Holbrooke, Susan Rice, and an array of current and former top military officials.

Frederick Kempe is president and CEO. He's a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, editor and associate publisher. He's a regular major media commentator.

Damon Wilson is executive vice president. Formerly he served on George W. Bush's National Security Council. He's committed to strengthening NATO. Like all past and current ACUS members, he supports America's imperial project.

The Washington Post listed other Hagel credentials. Past and current ones include:

• US senator (Nebraska-R.) from 1997 - 2009;

• chairman of the US Vietnam War Commemoration Advisory Committee;

• co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and Defense Policy Board member;

• Private Sector Council president and CEO;

• Vanguard Cellular Systems co-founder, director and executive vice president;

• Communications Corporation International LTD chairman;

• Hagel & Clarke co-founder, director and president;

• president McCarthy & Co,;

• Veterans Administration deputy administrator;

• Firestone Tire & Rubber government affairs director; and

• a decorated Vietnam vet.

He's no dove. He's solidly right-wing. He supported Bush's war on terror. He backs it now. He voted for every National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He endorsed NATO's 1999 Yugoslavia war.

At the time he said: "When you're in a war, you're in a war to win." He called Slobodan Milosevic "a butcher loose in the backyard of NATO." He viewed Kosovo as a "goal-line stand."

He said if America doesn't respond, "we will be tested every day for the next who knows how many years." He favored sending US forces to Kosovo. He said "never….take any military option off the table."

He voted for the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts. He endorsed an "urgent need" for missile defense. He called the 1972 US/Soviet Russia Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) "obsolete."

He said "We can't hold America's national security interests hostage to any threats from some other nation."

After Bush withdrew from ABM in December 2001, he said "What the president did was responsible. I support it. I think it was the right thing to do."

He accused North Korea of being "on the verge of fielding a ballistic missile capable not only of striking my home state of Nebraska, but anywhere in the United States."

He supported the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) for "the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States."

The Afghanistan war followed. It rages. It shows no signs of ending. It's America's longest war. It was lost years ago.

Hagel supported the 2003 Iraq war. When it was too late to matter, his tone got more dovish.

He favors lawless warrantless surveillance. He opposes habeas and due process rights for Guantanamo detainees.

On January 7, the Washington Post headlined "On Israel, Iran, and spending, Chuck Hagel looks a lot like Robert Gates," saying:

His opponents claim he'll dramatically change defense spending and America's position on Israel and Iran. Reality suggests otherwise.

"The bottom line is that" Hagel and Gates "are remarkably similar and appear to share a number of policy preferences." They include drawing down in Iraq and arguing against Libyan intervention.

Both men differ somewhat on Iran. Gates is more hardline. Hagel tried having it both ways. On the one hand, he claimed sanctions are counterproductive. At the same time, he said they're "working."

In his first post-nomination interview, he said critics "completely distorted" his record.

"I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism," he stressed. "I have also questioned some very cavalier attitudes taken about very complicated issues in the Middle East."

Nonetheless, he favors "direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran."

He called for direct Hamas/Hezbollah engagement. In 2008, he endorsed direct talks with Syria and North Korea.

There's "not one shred of evidence" that he's anti-Israeli, he said. "Israel is in a very, very difficult position. No border that touches Israel is always secure. We need to work to help protect Israel so it doesn't get isolated."

He calls "distortions about (his) record….astonishing." During Senate confirmation hearings, he welcomes "an opportunity to respond" to critics.

At the same time, Politico quoted him saying "I'm not an Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator. I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for the Senate in Israel, I'll do that."

Politico added that:

"In 2006, (he) used the term 'Jewish Lobby,' " saying:

"The political reality is….that the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. I have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because I don’t think it’s in the interest of Israel. I just don’t think it’s smart for Israel."

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) head Abe Foxman responded, saying:

"What I find more troubling is, he had sufficient time to distance himself from the ‘Jewish lobby’ quote, to explain, and he hasn’t."

"He let it stand. I find that more troubling than the original statement. He sees it out there. He sees it being seen as this truly conspiratorial view, that the Jewish lobby controls foreign policy, and there’s no comment."

AIPAC withheld comment. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) said:

"While we have expressed concerns in the past, we trust that when confirmed, (Hagel) will follow the president's lead of providing unrivaled support for Israel - on strategic cooperation, missile defense programs, and leading the world against Iran's nuclear program."

On January 8, the right-wing Jerusalem Post headlined "Ayalon: Hagel sees Israel as 'true and natural' ally," saying:

Ayalon is Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister. He's positive on Hagel's nomination. "I have met him many times," he said, "and he certainly regards Israel as a true and natural US ally."

Netanyahu withheld comment. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin expressed concerns. "Because of his statements in the past, and his stance toward Israel, we are worried," he said.

He added that Washington's ties to Israel don't depend on "one person."

The New York Times commented on Hagel and Brennan. Obama chose "two trusted advisers," it said.

Expect Senate hearings for Hagel to be "bruising," it added. Confirming both will likely follow.

John Brennan is Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. He's Obama's chief counterterrorism advisor.

He heads the administration's Murder, Inc. agenda. He chairs a panel of National Security Council officials. CIA, FBI, Pentagon, State Department, and others are involved.

America's war on terror is wide-ranging. It includes direct and proxy wars. Special Forces death squads operate in 120 or more countries. CIA agents are virtually everywhere. They're licensed to kill.

US citizens are fair game. They're vulnerable at home and abroad. Obama's kill list picks targets. Brennan advises on who next to assassinate. Victims are a closely held secret.

Anyone can be targeted anywhere in the world. Ordinary people, distinguished ones, or officials are fair game. Their crime is opposing US imperialism.

Drone wars are prioritized. Human lives don't matter. Rule of law principles are spurned. Summary judgment overrides them.

Obama usurped diktat authority. He appointed himself judge, jury and executioner. He and Brennan meet regularly. Eliminating America's enemies matter most.

Washington calls innocent victims "terrorists." Names go on kill lists. It's called America's "disposition matrix." Brennan's in charge of global assassinations. Prioritizing them made him top CIA director choice.

Expect drone wars to expand. So will targeted assassinations. Summary executions will be prioritized. Rule of law principles, standards, and protocols won't matter. Counterterrorism takes no prisoners.

Targeted killings and imperial wars won't end. Hagel, Brennan, and other high-profile administration national security officials prioritize them. Humanity may not survive the onslaught.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

http://www.dailycensored.com/hagel-and-brennan-nominations/

Dr. King must be Rolling over in his Grave, knowing that Obushma The George W Bush Carbon Copy has twisted Dr. King's "I have a Dream" Speech into Obushma's "I have a Drone" Freedom Speeches, appointing George W Bush Homicidal Clones to his Cabinets left and right. Nothing more than George W Bush aka Post 9-11 CIA Gory Satanic Ritual Serial Murders and Post 9-11 War on Islam Bushonomics and Austerity, plus Post 9-11 CIA Bush Road to WW III and Globalthermo Nuclear War with Sugar on Top.

....he's the poster boy for nigger inferiority

you just gotta know that the lord of depraved scum needs to make it an issue of race.

what else does it have?

nothing but its own self inflated ego.

Well,it's not about the color of Barokeydoke's skin...it's about the boy's inferior nigger belief system....his inferior nigger values....his inferior nigger knowledge base....his inferior nigger narrative...his inferior nigger agenda...his inferior nigger character....his inferior nigger behavior....in other words his entire inferior nigger paradigm....not to mention the inferior nigger balls he got from whoever it was the really knocked up his teenage hippie slut mother

what a sick and crippled mentality.

I'd much rather be a nigger than a moron like lord lickspittel.

Who seems to be a compulsive asshole locked into a mental diaper filled with its own shit..

Well.,why don't you call up the White House (202) 456-1414 and ask if you can suck some shit out of Barokeydoke's ass?...I'm sure if you ask nicely they boy would be happy to make you an "honorary nigger"

do the people see the obvious

?

lord lickspittel has nothing to show except perhaps its own hall of depravity and disconnection from the human family. another 'leaving' of race baiting inserted to inflame any discussion about the topic just like the typical zionist cockroach it has shown itself to be.

also a clumsy attempt to drown the discussion on these two hatchet jobs in its own bile.

while the collective again resets the report system to zero in order to allow this kind of divisive and ugly troll to run amok. for years

shame

.....let's not forget that Barokeydoke is half white...and the white half sucks just as bad as the black half does.....so the race card is "maxed out"

When a politician makes a correct decision that would lead to LESS war instead of MORE war i feel that they should be supported regardless of my personal cynical outlook of the system. Maybe taking a step towards diplomacy by nominating Chuck Hagel for Sec. of Defense is a step away from illegal invasions that was the policy of GW Bush regime for 8 years. The illegal invasion of Iraq was based upon deception (WMDs, depleted uranium) and illegal torture (see Sheik al Libby) as pretext to invade Iraq isn't the kind of foreign policy that the people want. What we can expect from Chuck Hagel is an unusual dose of honesty about the influences of the pro-Israeli lobby.

After having protested the illegal occupation of Iraq under the GW Bush regime for nearly 8 years i for one am willing to take some time off for other activities and do not want to see the "worst evil" choice for Sec. of Defense! If Obama chooses someone who spoke out against Iraq's illegal occupation under orders of GW Bush it appears he is the "least evil" choice possible, as is reflected by the hostile responses to him coming from the neo-conservative wing, or should we say the hired cheerleaders of the military-industrial complex.



"Top Ten Reasons Chuck Hagel Should be Secretary of Defense"

Posted on 01/07/2013 by Juan Cole



"I doubt Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, and I would agree about almost anything with regard to domestic US politics. Unless his views have changed, we certainly would not agree on gay rights. ( He says, at least, that his views have in fact changed and has apologized for remarks in the 1990s, and I think he should get the benefit of the doubt here). But he isn’t being nominated for secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He is being nominated as Secretary of Defense. And on defense and foreign policy issues, Hagel’s views have much to recommend them. I testified in April, 2004, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Hagel served, about the then Mahdi Army uprising in Iraq. The chairman, Richard Lugar, and Hagel both struck me as informed and concerned about the situation. Others, like Sam Brownback, seemed almost robotic in throwing softballs to my fellow panelist, the neoconservative Richard Perle, who denied that there was any uprising. Hagel had voted for the Iraq War authorization, but raised questions even then about US ignorance of what it was getting into, and he later in the Bush years joined Democrats in voting to get out.

Here are some positive things about the Hagel nomination:

1. Chuck Hagel is a decorated war hero, having won two Purple Hearts as infantry squad leader in Vietnam. He knows what war is, unlike the usual gaggle of chickenhawks who have emerged to accuse him of not being warlike enough. The very notion of William Kristol in a uniform is enough to provoke mirth, but here is an influential man (why?) who never met a war he didn’t love. Hagel not only knows war but knows it from the point of view of the infantry and NCOs, not just the officer corps. Hagel is cautious about wars and what they can achieve, and has become more cautious over time, as his hands got burned by the Iraq resolution. This caution is admirable in a Secretary of Defense.

2. Hagel has been an advocate for veterans. He introduced legislation to limit deployments in Iraq, which failed. (Many Iraq vets served multiple 18-month tours, and many of their problems have to do with frequent, long deployments.) He was a principal co-sponsor of Sen. Jim Webb’s bill on GIs, which expanded educational opportunities for those who served after September 11 (the bill became law). Unlike many inside-the-Beltway hawks who use the troops for political purposes but cut veterans’ benefits when the war is over, Hagel cares.

3. Hagel has long opposed the use of sanctions instead of diplomacy in the Middle East, having argued on June 27, 2001 at a conference of the American Iranian Council that sanctions on Libya and Iran “isolate us” (Washington Times, March 29, 2002).

4. Hagel opposed George W. Bush’s and the Neoconservatives’ ‘muscular Wilsonianism,” the idea that the US should invade countries like Iraq and impose democracy on them: Hagel said in 2006, “You cannot in my opinion just impose a democratic form of government on a country with no history and no culture and no tradition of democracy… We have not always connected those fundamentals to our efforts.” (- International Herald Tribune, March 17, 2006)

5. After an Israeli bombing killed dozens of children at Qana during the Israeli attack on Lebanon in summer, 2006, Hagel criticized the Bush administration for declining to call for a ceasefire (i.e. supporting further Israeli military action), saying, “The sickening slaughter on both sides must end now, this madness must stop.” (- Irish Times, August 2, 2006)

6. In 2009, Chuck Hagel signed a letter along with public figures such as James Wolfensohn of the World Bank and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski asking that the US government “Shift the U.S. objective from ousting Hamas to modifying its behavior, offer it inducements that will enable its more moderate elements to prevail, and cease discouraging third parties from engaging with Hamas in ways that might clarify the movement’s view and test its behavior.” The letter did not call for direct US negotiations with Hamas, though it perhaps implied that other intermediaries (the EU?) might. (- International Herald Tribune, March 26, 2009). Hamas is a force in Palestinian politics and pretending it doesn’t exist and branding it a terrorist organization to which we forbid ourselves from talking just further reduces the US from being an honest broker in negotiations to being a handmaiden of Likud Party policy.

7. Hagel supports withdrawal from Afghanistan, warning in a 2009 op-ed that the US cannot dictate the outcome there, but can only try to empower Afghans to pursue their own fate. He acknowledged that much will depend on Afghan-Pakistan relations. (Washington Post, September 3, 2009) If anything, Hagel seems to have been more eager to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan than was Obama himself, and he will be an excellent steward of the coming US disengagement from Afghanistan.

8. Hagel signed on to the Global Zero proposal, spearheaded by a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James E. Cartwright, which argued for very steep reductions in the US nuclear arsenal, on the grounds that deterrence can now be achieved with relatively few warheads, mounted on submarines rather than on land and in silos. (- International Herald Tribune, May 17, 2012)

9. Hagel joined former Centcom commander Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.), former US ambassador to the UN Thomas Pickering and others in arguing that an air attack on Iran without putting US troops on the ground could only set back but not destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, and would risk actually pushing Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. (The report Hagel endorsed is available in PDf here at the Wilson Center). At this point the evidence suggests (as outgoing Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak admitted) that Iran has not made a decision to pursue a nuclear bomb, as opposed to enrichment expertise. Hagel’s position is the only reasonable one, and it is a primary reason for which warmongers, chickenhawks, and American Likudniks have come after Hagel like a pack of jackals trying to beard a lone noble lion.

10. Hagel speaks his mind on the Israel-Palestine issue, unlike almost any other American politician still seeking public office. He castigated what he called the “Jewish lobby” for intimidating American politicians. The choice of phrase was unfortunate, since AIPAC and its affiliates do not represent American Jewry, which is significantly more liberal and less enthusiastic about the far rightwing Israeli parties and policies than the self-appointed ‘Israel lobby’ is. But John McCain’s riposte that there is an Armenian lobby but not a Jewish lobby is also kind of silly. Hagel has just said what President Gerald Ford did, that US policy toward Israel and Palestine should be guided by US interests. The leader of the sane Israel lobby, J-Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has come to Hagel’s defense.

For Hagel’s appointment to go through is extremely important at this juncture. It will blunt if not altogether end the use by extremist Jewish nationalists of the charge of ‘anti-Semitism’ to sideline critics of any aspect of Israeli policy. It will set a precedent showing that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other such organizations don’t always get their way on appointments, despite their long track record of shooting down capable Americans nominated for public service on the grounds that they are insufficiently worshipful of Israeli policy. ( Chas Freeman is a recent such victim of an orchestrated smear campaign, such that the US was deprived of his considerable expertise at a time it is desperately needed). It will put the far right wing coalition now in charge of Israel on notice that its intensifying colonization of Palestinian territory and attempt forever to forestall a 2-state solution is unacceptable. And it will signal that the US is not going to war against Iran for Bibi Netanyahu, however much William Kristol and the American Enterprise Institute demand it.

Hagel will be nominated and he will be passed by the Senate. And that process will be a turning point in the relationship of the US government to Israel and to its US lobbies. It is an extremely positive development, most of all for Israel itself, which cannot survive if it tries to annex the Palestinian West Bank (as Netanyahu obviously intends to do).

http://www.juancole.com/2013/01/reasons-secretary-defense.html



BTW - The comments throwing around poor language choices are silly and show an overall inability to debate logically.

Ad hominem attacks are not a succesful argument!!