Chuck Hagel is a republican and a senior member of the powerful Foreign Relations committee.
In summary, Hagel is criticizing Bush for creating bad will from other nations towards the USA, and for going into Iraq without allies.
I completely agree with Hagel's points and I applaud him for having the guts to stand up to a president from his own party.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
Quote:
Sen. Hagel Says Congress Deferred Too Much to Bush
Republican Says President Got Too Much Lattitude on Foreign Policy After Sept. 11
Associated Press
Tuesday, October 21, 2003; 11:56 AM
OMAHA, Neb. -- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is strongly criticizing Congress, saying it gave President Bush too much latitude in conducting foreign policy following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Hagel, of Nebraska, voiced his disapproval Monday in a speech at the Gallup Organization World Conference in Omaha.
"When the security of this nation is threatened, Congress and the American people give the president great latitude," he said. "We probably have given this president more flexibility, more latitude, more range, unquestioned, than any president since Franklin Roosevelt -- probably too much. The Congress, in my opinion, really abrogated much of its responsibility."
Hagel, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted last year to give the president the authority to attack Iraq but has frequently criticized Bush's execution of the war. He has been especially critical of the lack of allies and U.N. support.
Most people in other countries are too young to remember the good done by the United States in World War II and the Korean War, he said.
"The great reservoir of pro-American good will that has existed in the world since World War II . . . that reservoir is now down very low."
The Vietnam War veteran compared the United States' lack of international support in the Iraq war with what happened in Southeast Asia.
"The one great mistake that America made in those 58 years (since World War II) ... was we tried to do something alone. That was Vietnam," Hagel said.
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