Last week Chuck Hagel explained the realities of the war to Joe Lieberman. Today he responded to Dick Cheney’s stock attack on Face the Nation (hat tip to Think Progress):
SCHEIFFER: Let me ask you this, Senator. Vice President Cheney says this sort of thing undercuts the troops. What’s your response?
HAGEL: Let me tell you this. I served in Vietnam in 1968. Others did too. Jim Webb, John McCain. John Kerry. Other members in the House. In 1968 when I was there with my brother, worst year, deaths, I would have welcomed the Congress of the United States to pay a little attention as to what was going on. I would have welcomed that. That is complete nonsense to say we’re undercutting the support of the troops. What are we about? We’re Article 1 of the Constitution. We are co-equal branch of government. Are we not to participate? Are we not to say anything? Are we not to register our sense of where we’re going in this country on foreign policy? Bottom line is this: our young men and women and their families, these young men and women who are asked to fight and die deserve a policy worthy of those sacrifices. I don’t think we have one now.
Senator Hagel’s comments prove that wanting to end the war in Iraq and getting our troops home is not and should not be a partisan issue. It is a question of sound foreign policy when it comes to the Iraq war. That is why democrats and republicans in the Iraq Study Group made so many excellent recommendations including opening a dialog with Iran and Syria. Unfortunately, the administration has ignored their sound advice. That is why we see democrats and republicans like Hagel and Sen. Snowe sharing the view that sending in more troops to Iraq is not the answer, it will make bigger targets out of our sons and daughters in Iraq. As he and Sen. Kerry and many other key democrats in Congress have said we can’t win this war militarily anymore. The political differences between the Shiias and the Sunnis must be solved so we can bring our combat forces home.