Hagel says it's time to unwind from Iraq

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BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star

A lesson of Vietnam that applies to Iraq is “the deeper you bog down in a morass, the more difficult it is to get out,” Sen. Chuck Hagel said Friday.

“The more troops you put in, saying you need another six months or another year, a surge, five more combat brigades.”

All of that runs counter to the reality that “we’re going to have to unwind,” Hagel said.

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Sen. Chuck Hagel talks with eighth-graders at St. Joseph Catholic School on Friday. Pictured (from left) are Caleb Hile, Dayton Stewart, Bailey Ernst and Maggie Morehouse. (Michael Paulsen)

Sen. Chuck Hagel talks with eighth-graders at St. Joseph Catholic School on Friday. Pictured (from left) are Caleb Hile, Dayton Stewart, Bailey Ernst and Maggie Morehouse. (Michael Paulsen)

“No foreign policy, no war policy can be sustained without the support of the American people,” he said.

“Most of them say (Iraq) was a mistake and we want out.”

Hagel’s remarks were sparked by a student’s question during a dialogue with eighth graders at St. Joseph Catholic School.

Responding to whether he sees some similarities between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Hagel also pointed to “the tremendous damage” being inflicted on the U.S. military force structure.

“It takes a generation to build back,” Hagel said.

In answer to other questions, Hagel said his combat service in Vietnam in 1968 was the most significant defining experience of his life and his 2002 vote on the Iraq war resolution was his toughest decision during 12 years in the Senate.

As a result of his year in Vietnam, Hagel said, “I see war not in abstractions. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it.

“We were sending home young Americans in coffins at the rate of 150 a week,” he said.

Although he warned against a precipitate U.S. attack on Iraq without broad international support and planning for the aftermath, Hagel voted for the resolution authorizing President Bush to use military force.

In his recently published book, Hagel said he had been assured the administration would exhaust all international avenues and not use the resolution to rush to war.

“It was a tough call,” Hagel said.

Speaking with about 50 students, Hagel said the Bush administration and Congress have saddled their generation with a huge national debt that grew $3 trillion in the last seven years.

“This president did not veto one bill in his first term,” while criticizing deficit spending, Hagel said.

“The Democrats will at least tell you they want to spend more money,” the Republican senator said.

In response to other questions, Hagel said:

* The Senate is “the only political job I ever had any interest” in pursuing.

* Perhaps the best lesson he learned as a child was to “always value your friendships, be loyal to your friendships.”

* His mother probably was his best role model.

* A word of advice: “Whatever you do, do it the best you can do.”

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.