The man with the inside track to become President Obama's new Secretary of Defense now that Leon Panetta is moving on is no less than Chuck Hagel, former Republican senator from Nebraska.
Hagel is fairly close to President Obama, having been a supporter in 2008 and an appointee to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
He's an interesting choice, one of those creatures that believes that the so-called Jewish Lobby runs DC. He was quoted as saying so in Aaron David Miller's 2008 book "The Too Much Promised Land".
He's consistently voted against pro-Israel resolutions and legislation:
In August 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 Senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
In October 2000, Hagel was one of only 4 Senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
In November 2001, Hagel was one of only 11 Senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yassir Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel.
In December 2005, Hagel was one of only 27 who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran's nuclear program at the G-8 summit.
Just a coincidence, But Senator Hagel is apparently quite enamored of Iran. In edition to what I mentioned above, he's long been an advocate of taking Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah off the State Department's list of terrorist groups,
In fact, while he was in the Senate, notonly did he refuse to call on the EU to name Hezbollah a terrorist group, Hagel voted against designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. He also consistently voted against sanctions on Iran for their illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons.
One might almost suspect one of those cladestine lobbying contracts so well known in DC Land.
In fact..just another coincidence of course...The Washington Free Beacon reported on Thursday that Hagel is also on the board of directors of Deutsche Bank, which is now being investigated by U.S. authorities for violations of the same Iran sanctions Hagel voted against when he was in Congress.
According to the Weekly Standard, a top senatorial aide emailed them, saying, "Send us Hagel and we will make sure every American knows he is an anti-Semite."
Maybe. I don't know what's inside of him. But let's just say that based on his history, it looks like he at least likes the way the uniform looks on him.
There's a lot of that going around these days.
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