WarSclerotic

Are Sens. Schumer and Boxer dupes?.

( Guess who got to introduce Obama at the inauguration?  Gee, I wonder why they gave it to him…? “

It is a measure of how cynical senators, media and activists have become that there is no hue and cry when Chuck Hagel, after years of preaching his out-of the-mainstream views on Israel and Iran — reflected in dozens of votes, speeches, interviews and leadership of the Atlantic Council, known for its neo-isolationist views (and home to a vice chairman who calls Jews a “fifth column“) — does an about-face and collects the support of senior liberal Democrats like Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Really, did these senators just fall off the turnip truck? Would they have bought it if Judge Robert Bork discovered the right of privacy to save his Supreme Court confirmation? Would they have patted John Bolton on the back and rubber-stamped his confirmation as U.N. ambassador if, on the eve of his Senate hearing, he had waxed lyrical about the U.N Human Rights Commission? No, they would have laughed and/or feigned insult that such duplicity was being used to con the senators into confirming him. You would have to suspend disbelief, as then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) put it in a different context, to believe these confirmation conversions were sincere.

But Boxer and Schumer aren’t fools. They are willing to be fooled so they can, with a clear conscience, roll over for the White House and look pro-Israel constituents in the eye. They know full well what Hagel’s views are; they are as well-established as were Antonin Scalia’s, Bork’s and Samuel Alito’s on originalism. Hagel didn’t simply say a few goofy things during his career. He made his brand of antipathy toward Israel, hostility toward Jewish Americans’ lobbying for Israel, reluctance to isolate or sanction Iran and desire to slash the defense budget hallmarks of his Senate and post-Senate career. It would be as if Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) suddenly professed devotion to the military option on Iran.

Well, not everyone is willing to play the dupe. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the incoming ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a friend of Hagel’s and was long thought to be a “yes” vote. Yet he has come out against Hagel. In a statement released late Tuesday, he explained:

Chuck Hagel is a good person, and it was a pleasure to serve with him in the United States Senate. I am so very appreciative of the sacrifices he and his brother made to serve this country during the Vietnam War. We had a very cordial meeting today in which we discussed his nomination.

Unfortunately, as I told him during our meeting today, we are simply too philosophically opposed on the issues for me to support his nomination.

One of my biggest concerns is avoiding [President] Obama’s sequestration that, as [Defense] Secretary [Leon] Panetta has said, would be devastating to our military. However, Senator Hagel’s comments have not demonstrated that same level of concern about the pending defense cuts.

Senator Hagel has also been an outspoken supporter of nuclear disarmament and the Global Zero Movement. At a time when North Korea is threatening our allies with their nuclear capabilities and Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it, the security of our own nation and that of our allies requires us to be vigilant with our own nuclear weapons and defense systems. This administration has already put us in a more vulnerable position by drastically cutting our nuclear defense budget and eliminating our Third Site missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic

Inhofe took the same stance with respect to Hagel’s Iran and Israel record, refusing to buy Hagel’s transformation from J Street favorite to devoted friend of the Jewish state. (“In 2000, he was one of just four senators who refused to sign a letter affirming U.S. solidarity with Israel.  In 2001 he was one of just two Senators who voted against extending the sanctions against Iran. A year later, he urged the Bush administration to support Iranian membership in the World Trade Organization.”)

Either Hagel’s entire career previously has been a ruse or his current conversion is a ruse. Perhaps he has no views other than those convenient for the moment. Well, at least not all senators are as willing as Schumer and Boxer to be lulled into propping up a phony confirmation conversion.

Inhofe’s objections highlight another concern about Hagel and another example of hypocrisy from Democrats. When conservative Republicans are appointed to lead offices such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Health and Human Services, liberals holler that they don’t embrace the mission of their role. They wanted to cut spending! They believe in federalism! Yet Hagel, who has not defended defense but cheered the evisceration of the Pentagon budget, is dubbed by Democrats to be an appropriate figure to head the Defense Department. I mean, who exactly is supposed to advocate for our troops, for giving them the best equipment and for matching the budget with the threats we face?

Obama supposedly wants Hagel because he has such great judgment. (Opposing the Iraq surge and unilateral Iran sanctions? Well, that’s another story.)  So which is it: Hagel has principled views that the president is going to consider seriously, or he’s just a dutiful bureaucrat parroting whatever the president and his political hacks say is required? You can’t be both principled and willing to shed those principles for job promotion. You can’t be selected for being a wise counselor and then forced to recount all previous counsel.  And senators can’t go along with this farce unless they are willing to be actors in a deceitful drama intended to convince us that Hagel is someone he’s not.

Review & Outlook: Schumer’s Blessing – WSJ.com.

The Senator says Chuck Hagel no longer believes what he said.

Chuck Schumer, the senior Senator from New York and Harry Reid wannabe, is not currently a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Nor has he ever served on it in his 14 years in the Senate, or on its House counterpart during his 18 years as a Congressman from New York City.

So of course he’s uniquely qualified to pronounce on the subject of Chuck Hagel’s fitness to serve as Secretary of Defense.

That is what some of our media friends are saying now that Mr. Schumer has announced his support for the nominee following a 90-minute meeting on Monday. Mr. Schumer—who calls himself the Senate’s “Shomer Israel,” or “guardian of Israel”—had previously played coy about his views of Mr. Hagel, noting in a statement that he had “genuine concerns over certain aspects of his record on Israel and Iran.”

But all that was put to rest during their meeting. Mr. Schumer reports that Mr. Hagel disavowed his former opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions or military strikes on Iran. He reversed his former support for opening direct talks with the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group.

He promised to implement a provision in the 2013 defense bill giving servicewomen greater access to abortion, something he had repeatedly opposed as a Senator. He walked back his former opposition to the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay soldiers. And he said he regretted using the term “Jewish lobby” in reference to pro-Israel groups.

So there you have it. The man whose chief recommendation to be Defense Secretary is supposed to be his courageous willingness to say what’s on his mind no matter the political consequences has now shown he’ll say whatever Chuck Schumer wants him to say to be confirmed by the Senate.

And the Senator who was supposed to be the personification of the vaunted “Jewish lobby” has now endorsed the nomination of the man who so conspicuously denounced that lobby and its supposed ability to “intimidate” American politicians. Let’s see what the caucus claiming Mr. Hagel is the victim of a vast Jewish conspiracy makes of that one.

Meantime, Mr. Hagel will still have to endure Senate hearings before his nomination can be put to a vote. Judging by his performance with Mr. Schumer, Mr. Hagel will make anodyne remarks and distance himself from his previous positions by saying the world has changed.

But Senators should insist on an accounting of his past support for “engagement” with Hamas, Iran and the Assad regime in Syria. They should want to know what lessons he draws from warning that the surge in Iraq would be one of the greatest foreign policy blunders of all time. They should have a clear sense of what he thinks the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in the wake of U.S. withdrawal would mean for regional and American security. And they should ask precisely where he finds “bloat” in a Navy now reduced to 287 ships and an Air Force flying 50-year-old planes.

We don’t know whether any of this will prevent Mr. Hagel’s confirmation, though it should be educational about his world view and the Administration’s defense priorities. What we do know is that, whatever his own conceits on the matter, Mr. Schumer’s absolution of Mr. Hagel settles nothing except his own vote, and maybe his conscience.

UN chief blames Israel for Arab world stagnation | The Times of Israel.

( To paraphrase this and just about all UN pronouncements, ” It’s the fault of the Jews that their sworn enemies who can’t stop trying to destroy them suck.” Self parody seems to be the new modus operendi. – JW )

‘Conflict, injustice, occupation’ — and especially the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate — have prevented progress, says Ban; our conflict is not the core Arab issue, Israel responds

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (photo credit: Nati Shohat /Flash90)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appeared to hold Israel partially responsible for lack of progress in the Arab world.

“Development in the Arab region has also been held back by protracted conflict, injustice and occupation. The stalemate in the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis is especially troubling,” Ban stated in a message to the Third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, currently taking place in Saudi Arabia.

“We must renew our collective engagement to resume meaningful negotiations that will realize Palestinian aspirations to live in freedom and dignity in an independent state of their own, side by side with Israel in peace and security,” read his statement, delivered in Riyadh by Rima Khalaf, the executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, rejected any connection between Israeli policies and the situation in the Arab world.

“We know that there is conflict between us and the Palestinians, but attempts to elevate that to the core issue of the Middle East are doing a disservice to everybody,” Hirschson told The Times of Israel. Trying to blame Israel’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians for the low investment in education, insufficient women rights, lack of democracy and other issues causes the world to lose focus on the real problems Arab countries face, he added. “There is a conflict between us and the Palestinians, and we’re trying to solve it. I’m not saying that we never made any mistakes, but one has nothing to do with the other.”

In his remarks, Ban acknowledged Arab citizens’ “legitimate calls for progress, freedom and dignity” that arose in recent years. He welcomed the adoption of a new controversial constitution in Egypt and also commended Saudi King Abdullah for his recent appointment of 30 women to the Shura Council, the closest body the monarchy has to a parliament, though it has no real powers.

“Across the region, the challenge now is to deepen and broaden reform efforts,” Ban stated. “In particular, a new and more hopeful era for the Arab world demands that youth and women have opportunities to realize their aspirations.”

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