{"id":690,"date":"2013-01-08T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/01\/08\/hagel-is-no-chicken-hawk"},"modified":"2013-01-08T14:40:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T14:40:00","slug":"hagel-is-no-chicken-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=690","title":{"rendered":"Hagel is no \u2018chicken hawk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/defcon-hill\/policy-and-strategy\/275997-white-house-confident-in-hagel<\/a><\/p>\n

There is much to commend Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of defense. His years of service in the Senate; his work on national security issues during that time; the fact that he\u2019s a Republican who would serve in a Democratic administration.<\/p>\n

But most of all it is his combat experience that stands out.<\/p>\n

President Obama noted that experience specifically Monday while nominating Hagel to lead the Pentagon. Hagel, said Obama, knows what it means to send young Americans into combat where they \u201cbleed in the mud.\u201d Hagel himself bled in the mud, as an Army infantryman during the Vietnam War, where he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.<\/p>\n

Hagel would be the first Vietnam veteran to lead the Pentagon and would be the first defense boss with experience as an enlisted man. He knows about war and its cost. He understands the pain it brings to families. Hagel is no \u201cchicken hawk.\u201d These are the individuals who avoided service during time of war \u2026 only to be among the first to sound the bugle to charge into combat.<\/p>\n

Hagel, who was elected to two Senate terms as a Nebraska Republican, served with his brother in Vietnam. They saved each other\u2019s lives in battle.<\/p>\n

Yes, this man has made some unfortunate comments in the past. He\u2019s taken them back, expressing regret, for example, about comments he once made about an openly gay U.S. ambassador. He once referred to the \u201cJewish lobby\u201d when referencing Israel\u2019s long-standing support in the United States.<\/p>\n

But my own view is that a man with his specific type of military experience and the trials he has endured while serving his country in wartime have prepared him uniquely for this critical post.<\/p>\n\n

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http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/defcon-hill\/policy-and-strategy\/275997-white-house-confident-in-hagel There is much to commend Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of defense. His years of service in the Senate; his work on national security issues during that time; the fact that he\u2019s a Republican who would serve in a Democratic administration. But most of all it is his combat experience that stands out. … Continue reading Hagel is no \u2018chicken hawk\u2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}