Sen. Hagel: 'Engagement Is Not Appeasement'
The United States is stuck "in a strategic cul-de-sac in the Middle East," and the next president will have to find a way out, including through direct engagement of nations such as Iran, according to retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)
The United States should open a new strategic direction in U.S.-Iran relations by seeking direct, comprehensive and unconditional talks with the government of Iran, including opening a U.S. Interest Section in Tehran, Hagel says.
"Engagement is not appeasement. Diplomacy is not appeasement," says Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who was mentioned himself as a potential 2008 presidential candidate before ultimately deciding against that and against running for a third term in the Senate. "Great nations engage. Powerful nations must be the adults in world affairs. Anything less will result in disastrous, useless, preventable global conflict."
Hagel is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Select Intelligence committees.
America's way out of Iraq will require a regional, diplomatic strategic that includes a sustained and disciplined American engagement with all of Iraq's neighbors, notably Iran and Syria, as well as the international community, Hagel told attendees of a recent, wide-ranging event at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
That would also include a regional security conference, supported by key international institutions, he says.
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain says he would maintain current policy in Iraq while presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama has opposed the war in Iraq.
"The next President will need to pursue a responsible, phased troop withdrawal from Iraq that will slowly, steadily but surely bring to an end the U.S. occupation of Iraq," Hagel says.
Hagel calls McCain and Obama "serious men who are serious leaders."
"John McCain and Barack Obama are meeting at a time of historic confluence," Hagel says. "They will be forever linked together in history. The next four months will define how they are remembered. If they rise to the magnitude of the moment, when America and the world need them most, and engage in a Presidential campaign that strengthens our nation, enhances our image, inspires mankind, and makes us proud, then they will have been found worthy of the honor and responsibility bestowed upon them by the citizens of our great country."
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The United States should open a new strategic direction in U.S.-Iran relations by seeking direct, comprehensive and unconditional talks with the government of Iran, including opening a U.S. Interest Section in Tehran, Hagel says.
"Engagement is not appeasement. Diplomacy is not appeasement," says Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who was mentioned himself as a potential 2008 presidential candidate before ultimately deciding against that and against running for a third term in the Senate. "Great nations engage. Powerful nations must be the adults in world affairs. Anything less will result in disastrous, useless, preventable global conflict."
Hagel is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Select Intelligence committees.
America's way out of Iraq will require a regional, diplomatic strategic that includes a sustained and disciplined American engagement with all of Iraq's neighbors, notably Iran and Syria, as well as the international community, Hagel told attendees of a recent, wide-ranging event at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
That would also include a regional security conference, supported by key international institutions, he says.
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain says he would maintain current policy in Iraq while presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama has opposed the war in Iraq.
"The next President will need to pursue a responsible, phased troop withdrawal from Iraq that will slowly, steadily but surely bring to an end the U.S. occupation of Iraq," Hagel says.
Hagel calls McCain and Obama "serious men who are serious leaders."
"John McCain and Barack Obama are meeting at a time of historic confluence," Hagel says. "They will be forever linked together in history. The next four months will define how they are remembered. If they rise to the magnitude of the moment, when America and the world need them most, and engage in a Presidential campaign that strengthens our nation, enhances our image, inspires mankind, and makes us proud, then they will have been found worthy of the honor and responsibility bestowed upon them by the citizens of our great country."
Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:
Bookmark http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/ and drop back in for more news from the nation's capital.
Labels: Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, diplomacy, election, Iran, John McCain
posted by Scott Nance at
6:51 AM
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