Chuck Hagel

Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel (born October 4, 1946) is the 24th and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving since 2013. He is a former United States Senator from Nebraska. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. He declined to run for reelection in 2008. He is often characterized as a political maverick and moderate, similar to fellow Vietnam War veteran Republican Senator John McCain.

Sourced

Senate confirmation hearings

• I believe, and always have, that America must engage — not retreat — in the world.
  • Transcript: Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense, submitted by Robert Naiman on February 1, 2013 at Justforeignpolicy.org, accessed February 10, 2013.

Dick Cheney hunting incident

• If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety.
  • Stephen, Andrew (27 February 2006). "Deputy Dick: What We Don't Know". New Statesman. Retrieved on 2006-10-16. 

• I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.
  • On Bush, the GOP, and the Patriot Act,Babington, Charles (December 21, 2005). "4 GOP Senators Hold Firm Against Patriot Act Renewal". Washington Post. p. A04. Retrieved on 2006-10-16. 

North Korea's purported first nuclear test

• We are the adult power in the world. It is because of the United States, our action or inaction, that there will be a resolution here.
  • Klug, Foster (October 15, 2006). "U.S. Presses China on N. Korea Sanctions". Associated Press (via The Guardian). Retrieved on 2006-10-16. 

War on Terrorism

• We are perceived as a nation at war with Muslims. This debilitating and dangerous perception must be reversed.
  • http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-03-27-voa72.cfm

Conflict in Iraq

• We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam.
  • http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/28/america/NA-GEN-US-Iraq.php

• This is a ping-pong game with American lives. These young men and women that we put in Anbar province, in Iraq, in Baghdad, are not beans. They're real lives. And we better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder.
  • On the Iraq troop surge of 2007, "Excerpts From Senate Iraq Meeting". The Bellingham Herald. 24 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-25. 

• If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.
  • Asking his fellow Senators to support a joint resolution opposing President George W. Bush's troop deployment plan, "Hagel Ponders White House Run As War Criticism Raises His Profile". The Washington Post. 26 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-29. 

External links

• Official Senate site