Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Hagel on Bush, Iraq, and the patriotism of dissent

He's a good man and, here, he's absolutely right: "Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) strongly criticized yesterday the White House's new line of attack against critics of its Iraq policy, saying that "the Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them."

More: "To question your government is not unpatriotic -- to not question your government is unpatriotic."

Who are the real patriots? I'm with Hagel.

posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at 7:53 AM

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4 Comments:

  • So Bush was wrong about WMDs. Now 2000+ are dead, $200 billion is spent, 15,000+ wounded and maimed, with no end in sight. Pretty expensive mistake. Don't we pay the president to get it right? Isn't this mistake alone enough to condemn him? Other people and countries -- including the oft-maligned French -- were telling him he was wrong. He ignored them all. He was determined to go to war, no matter what the real threats were. He did not use war as a last resort, as he said he would. I think that ignoring the truth, along with sending men into battle with faulty intelligence ought to be a punishable offense.

    I know that if I cost our country 2000 lives and $200 billion I would be in big trouble. The president should be in big trouble. Getting it wrong ought to matter and it ought to have consequences. Getting it wrong certainly has had consequences for the 2000+ dead and the 15,000+ wounded and maimed. It certainly has consequences for all our citizens and for our economy. President Bush seems to be trying to pass the buck. Where does the buck stop? Don't we need to get people in there who don't make the kinds of mistakes that George W. Bush makes? Hmmm?

    They got it wrong on pre-war intelligence, wrong on Katrina, wrong on tax cuts for the rich, wrong on cuts in benefits for the poor, wrong on burgeoning deficits. How much else are they wrong about? How long are we going to take it? George W. Bush and the Republicans are just Wrong for America.

    By Blogger Ed Bremson, MFA, at 1:29 PM  

  • I'm not sure about using the word "condemn," I do agree that the responsibility for this mess is Bush's. And yet all he does is go after the Democrats -- that's the new "spin" coming from the White House. He went into war on faulty intelligence, conducted it recklessly and without adequate planning, and now won't take any responsibility whatsoever.

    Yes, Ed, Bush is wrong for America. That's the the impassioned comment.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 2:29 PM  

  • Hagel's a fraud who's mistakenly thinking this kind of grandstanding will get him somewhere in 2008. His days are numbered. Republicans will turn their backs on him and the hapless donkeys are too enamored with HillBillary to pay him any attention. For the left he was a useful idiot - for the right he's a loser stuck in the Viet Nam war. He won't even retain his senate seat - and he has no chance at getting anywhere in the primary in 2008. Buh-bye Chuckie.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:32 PM  

  • A "fraud"? Why, because he dares to criticize the mismanagement of the war?

    Republican may turn on him, but that would be their loss.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 5:16 PM  

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