Former Senator Chuck Hagel Becomes US Defense Secretary

It wasn’t stopped by the protests of Republicans who claimed that he’s anti-Semite, has radical views and is under-qualified.

It has happened only nine times in the over 200-year-old history of the U.S. that the Senate rejected a government candidate chose by the president. If a president who’s a Democrat chooses a Republican, as it was this time, there should theoretically be no problem at all with the nomination.

But there were, and they were huge; Hagel is considered by his Republican colleagues to be a traitor, double-dealer and a dangerous radical.

Hagel was accepted by the senators 58 to 41 after several weeks of Republican procedural blocking of voting. This result looks quite convincing but no secretary after World War II has received so many negative votes. Now retiring Leon Panetta, who is replaced by Hagel, was unanimously accepted in the Senate voting in 2011 — 100 senators for, no one against. His predecessors had a couple of negative votes at most, because defense matters are regarded in America as more important than party divisions.

Why Did the New Secretary Get into His Republican Colleagues’ Bad Books?

He betrayed his party for the first time in the middle of the last decade, when he decidedly criticized President George W. Bush for the unsuccessful occupation of Iraq. It also turned out that he’s not pro-Israeli enough — he even stated that a Jewish lobby in Washington terrorizes many people, for which he has been frequently reproached in recent weeks. He called for establishing contact with Hamas, the Palestinian party regarded by the U.S. as a terrorist group, because, in his opinion, it would improve chances for permanent peace in the Middle East.

Senator Forsaken by his Friends

“While I respect Hagel’s continued willingness to serve his country, I feel we are too philosophically opposed on the most pressing issues confronting the security of our nation. […] In 2000, when nearly every senator joined a letter to President Bill Clinton affirming U.S. solidarity with Israel in the face of Palestinian aggression, Hagel was one of just four who refused to sign. In 2001, he was one of just two senators who voted against a bill extending harsh sanctions against Iran,” said Republican senator Jim Inhofe, enumerating Hagel’s sins.

Hagel got several orders for his heroic service in Vietnam, where, as a young man, he volunteered to serve. Similarly to Senator John McCain, he is regarded as one of the best Republican experts on defense, security and foreign policy. They were friends in the past but have recently become enemies. When Hagel was questioned in the Senate as a candidate for the post in January, it was precisely McCain who attacked him the most fiercely. But not only him — all his former friends have forsaken him. Hagel, surprised by the hostile attitude, came out badly. He promised to prevent Iran from getting an atom bomb and reminded them that as a senator he had voted for military help for Israel many times. But his answers were unconvincing; he appeared lost.

However, Hagel is lucky because one Senate friend — Barack Obama — remained faithful to him. They had already grown fond of each other at the time he had had the reputation of an outsider in his party and they both had a seat in the Committee on Foreign Relations. Hagel became something like a guide in foreign affairs for the young, black senator from Chicago. Now that the former senator has won a second term in the White House and Panetta has decided to retire, Obama has claimed Hagel and firmly defended his old friend.

Obama emphasized yesterday that Hagel was supported by four of 45 Republican senators, which he regarded as evidence that his favorite is a person over party divisions. The president said, trying to spell out reality, that when it comes to security there are no Democrats or Republicans, but only Americans.

Secretary for Lean Years

This way America has a new defense secretary who will be given a hard task right away. It seems already inevitable that automatic cuts in the defense budget will come in force on Friday — approximately $500 billion for 10 years. Congress voted them through two years ago, assuming that they wouldn’t occur, because in the meantime the politicians in Washington were supposed to agree on other methods which could limit budget deficits, which exceeded $1 billion in every year of Obama’s term. But Congress didn’t agree and are wailing now that state security is in danger.

The defense budget had already been cut within a decade by $500 billion two years ago, so Hagel will have to implement savings running into millions. It was Panetta who decided that only one aircraft carrier will sail in the Persian Gulf, not two as before. New governmental orders for the new fighter plane F-35 will be surely be significantly reduced.

Hagel has said recently that the U.S. defense budget is overblown, which also outraged the Republicans, so he seems a perfect candidate for the lean years in his department. However, the word “lean” should be interpreted as “relatively lean” because the U.S. spends almost as much on defense as all other countries in the world together. The necessary savings of approximately 9 percent are main cuts on the planned increase of expenditures over next few years, so declining American military dominance is out of the question at the moment.