The Washington Post has put an Editorial marker down saying President Obama should not nominate Chuck Hagel to be his Secretary of Defense.
They focused on his statements on Iran and his views on cutting the defense budget. “Chuck Hagel is not the right choice for defense secretary.”
On Iran, the editorial stated: “Mr. Obama may be forced to contemplate military action if Iran refuses to negotiate or halt its uranium-enrichment program. He will need a defense secretary ready to support and effectively implement such a decision. Perhaps Mr. Hagel would do so.”
The word “Perhaps” is meant to question Mr. Hagel’s loyalty.
The President of the United States has said Iran will not achieve a nuclear bomb on his watch. He was reelected on this position. So when the time comes to employ a military option our, Constitutional Chain-of-Command is simple-Secretary Hagel execute a military option to stop the Iranian weapon. No “perhaps” just “yes sir.”
It is the President’s call with no room for insubordination.
This is also especially true for Chuck Hagel since he is Co-Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
He built a legacy of trust with President Obama, and is the perfect individual to make the case that all options have been tried before the National Security military option is employed.
The editorial also stated that Mr. Hagel would not protect the military from budget cuts, in effect, implying he is against what is best for the troops. The news side of the Post, appropriately showing their independence, covered all the aspects of the potential nomination of Chuck Hagel.
An article by a Post reporter insightfully captured a very rare career move made at the highest level of Political Appointments — a resignation truly based on the principle of trying to protect the lives and wellbeing of the troops and their families.
In 1981, then Deputy VA Administer Hagel put the troops first, because to him war is not an abstract academic-based “cubical commando” exercise.
Mr. Hagel’s two Purple Hearts, and Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) serving as a grunt in Vietnam gave him the experience, and moral courage in 1981, to keep his faith to the DVA motto “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan”, President Abraham Lincoln.
“In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed him as deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. But he quit after clashing with his boss, Robert Nimmo, who curtailed veterans’ benefits and compared the side effects of exposure to Agent Orange to “a little teenage acne.
“Vietnam Scars Shape Hagel’s outlook” Craig Whitlock, Washington Post, Dec 20th 2012.
Chuck Hagel, earning the everlasting gratitude of his fellow Vietnam Veterans, was way out front on the nasty, life altering and deadly effects of Agent Orange.
It took the first DVA Secretary Ed Derwinski, who in 1989, finally made it right by killing the US Government court case that tried to deny benefits to Vietnam Veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Tragically a lot of in-theater combat Vietnam Veterans passed away with no VA benefits or medical treatment from 1981 to 1989 to them or their family.
Since Secretary Derwinski’s decision, VA benefit compensation continues to link exposure to Agent Orange to a growing list of such horrible diseases as Hodgkin’s disease, ALS, leukemia, and prostate cancer. Another real tragedy is that the children of Vietnam vets have a higher incidence of spina bifda.
A lot of Vietnam veterans were and still are being killed before their time by Agent Orange.
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp
For our next generation of active duty troops and veterans, there is the growing problem of “Gulf War Illness” exposure to Iraqi chemical munitions inside bunkers that were blown up in Desert Storm.
Even today, some residual chemical munitions (yes, WMDs) have been found.
The illness trend of Operation Iraqi Freedom troops and veterans is now of concern because of statistical recognition of the environmental hazards of warfare to our troops.
It is possible that open air burn pits with cacogenic materials and also toxic ground water will condemn all in that part of the world to quality of life altering environmental factors.
Because of evaporation, for twenty-three hours of each day, water flows into the Persian Gulf — and only for one hour a day does it flush itself., The Gulf is a man-made devil’s brew of every nasty chemical in the world, and can kill you.
When I was in the Iraq port of Umm Qsar, looking for contraband Italian sea mines, the locals quipped, “Turn on the water and see what we are having for dinner.”
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/
So if The Washington Post Editorial Board objects to confirming a combat wounded Vietnam Veteran who put his career on the line to try and reach back to a battlefield to bring assistance to his fellow warriors that is their call.
In my professional judgment he is an excellent choice for SecDef for he has lived rule one of combat leadership: take care of the troops.
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