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Defense Secretary Hagel Throws in the Towel
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 24, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Pushed out of his job less than two years after
getting sworn in Feb. 27, 2013 as the nation’s first defense secretary to serve
as an enlisted man in the Vietnam War, 68-year-old Chuck Hagel tendered his
resignation to President Barack Obama.
Obama befriended Hagel during his brief stay in the U.S. Senate [Jan. 5,
2005 to Nov. 16, 2008] while Hagel stood up as the lone GOP voice opposing the
Iraq War. Obama ran his
presidential campaign voicing strong opposition, like Hagel, to the Iraq War. While it was natural for Democrats
to oppose the Iraq War, it proved a career-ending choice, opting out of the U.S.
Senate Jan. 9, 2009. Obama was
forever grateful to Hagel speaking his mind at the expense of his GOP career to
save American lives opposing the Iraq War.
Bush-43’s defense secretary Robert Gates continued as defense secretary
until Leon Panetta took over July 1, 2011.
However the White House spins it, stepping down less than two years after
taking office is a big black eye for the administration. Saying it was an “appropriate time
for him [Hagel] to step down,” the White House whitewashed the damaging PR move. No president wants to see Cabinet
secretaries serve so little time, directly relating to either poor choices or
chaos in the White House. Praising
Hagel for serving as an “exemplary defense secretary,” Obama had no explanation
for why he only served less that two years.
“Chuck Hagel has devoted himself to our national security and our men and
women in uniform across six decades,” said Obama, offering no coherent reason
for his departure. Speculation
surrounds differences over how to fight-and-win the war against the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria. Obama
prefers to fight the war from the air, something questioned by many defense
experts.
Approving air strikes in Iraq Aug. 8 and then Syria Sept. 10, Hagel sat
idly by while Obama insiders directed the show from the White House. Hagel’s short tenure shows that
Obama’s inner circle led by special counselor Valerie Jarrett, deputy counselor
Kathryn Ruemmier, U.N. Amb. Samatha Power, National Security Advisor Susan Rice,
all opposed using ground troops to fight ISIS.
Former Pentagon Policy Chief Michele Flournoy, currently CEO of
liberal-leaning Center for a New American Security, leaps to frontrunner to
replace Hagel. Deputy Defense
Secretary Robert Work and former Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter also emerge
as possible Hagel replacements.
Hagel’s problems started when he sought clarification of the White House policy
on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Since bombing ISIS Aug. 8, Hagel realized the strategy worked at
cross-purposes.
Bombing ISIS and other militant groups fight al-Assad, Hagel concluded
that the current strategy helps al-Assad stay in power. Since using chemical weapons in
2013, the official White House position was regime change in Damascus. Since the air war against ISIS, that
strategy was put on hold. Hagel
sent a letter to Rice recently asking for her to clarify White House policy on
al-Assad. Hagel realized at some point that his opinion about defense strategy didn’t really
matter. “Frustrated with aspects of
the administration’s national security policy and decision-making process,” said
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) becoming Chairman of the Armed Service Committee when
the Senate reconvenes in January.
“Chuck’s situation is no different,” said McCain, referring to recent memoirs of
former Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta: Both critical of White House
micromanagement.
Suggesting after less than two years Hagel just decided on his own to
call it quits makes no sense. “His
predecessors have spoken about the excessive micromanagement they faced from the
White House and how that made it mire difficult to do their jobs successfully,”
said McCain, one of Obama’s fiercest critics.
As McCain suggests, Hagel ran afoul with Obama’s inner circle, where
there’s more concern about 2016 than doing what’s right for U.S. domestic and
foreign policy. Putting boots on
the ground in Iraq and Syria would have unpredictable consequences heading into
the 2016 presidential sweepstakes.
If Obama tells the truth about Hagel giving him the facts straight, he would
have heard that ISIS can’t be defeated without U.S. boots on the ground. Asked on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show
last week whether or not he’d be leaving the Cabinet, Hagel equivocated,
praising the president.
Hagel’s unexpected departure as defense secretary raises more doubts
about current White House strategy with ISIS and Russia in Ukraine. On both counts, Obama prefers a more cautious, less confrontational approach. Hagel resigned to avoid facing
McCain’s Senate Armed Services Committee next year. McCain would have thoroughly
embarrassed Obama, showing that he couldn’t tolerate honest feedback from Hagel
about his strategy in the Mideast and Ukraine.
While McCain could still subpoena Hagel, he’ll have plenty of opportunity
between next year and the 2016 presidential election to embarrass Democrats. Leaving the White House prematurely
can’t help Obama’s credibility during the lame-duck presidential years. Hagel resigned to spare the White
House more embarrassment, were he forced under oath to tell the truth about
White House defense strategy.
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