Ayoon Wa Azan (Hagel defeats the evil cabal)

The presence of the trio Barack Obama, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel in one administration is reassuring. For one thing, they are not seekers of foreign military adventures, and do not consider the United States to be the world’s policeman. Nor do they speak of American “exceptionalism” which the warmongering cabal had used to justify its bid to impose American values on the rest of the world. I spent several weeks following up the hearing sessions for the confirmation of Chuck Hagel, former Republican Senator for Nebraska, as defense secretary. I noticed that the most violent campaigns against Hagel came either from advocates of war such as Sen. John McCain, who was captured in Vietnam where Kerry and Hagel had earned the highest military decorations there are; or from Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the pro-Israel trio in Congress, which includes him, McCain, and Joe Lieberman, or Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas – that is, a “Cowboy.” The Republicans blocked the vote on Hagel’s confirmation as the head of the Pentagon, but their bid was ultimately unsuccessful, and Hagel was confirmed against their will. 58 Senators voted in favor of Hagel’s confirmation, against 41 who voted against. While this is the least amount of support ever secured by a defense secretary since the post was created in 1947, it is good enough. Hagel retracted some of his past statements and offered some context to adjust others. As I was listening to him, I remembered President Obama’s speech at the steps of the Capitol building on January 21, 2013. In a speech that lasted 15 minutes, Obama made only one reference to the peace process, and spoke at length about national consensus which he knows full well he would never get. He also tackled issues like safeguarding healthcare and social welfare benefits, welcoming immigrants, gay rights, and equal pay for men and women, as well as investment in renewable energy. The above are all top priorities for the president. Yet the peace process is also among them. While the president may have omitted or refrained from emphasizing this issue, this is because he does not want to give the warmongering cabal further ammunition to be used against him. Personally, I believe it likely that the U.S. administration will become more engaged in the peace process in the last two years of the president’s current term. We shall see the beginning of this during Obama’s visit to Israel next month. The warmongering cabal knows and expects this, which explains the daily attacks on Barack (Hussein) Obama, and on every policy and stance he adopts. We saw this with Hagel, for instance, and I cite a number of headlines from the gang’s media which include: “Hagel's credibility left in shreds;” “Chuck Hagel: Unworthy of Confirmation;” “Chuck Hagel's trust in Fidel Castro;” and “Containing Hagel.” The concern of the neoconservatives and the Israel lobby towards Chuck Hagel is actually justifiable. To be sure, the man has taken stances against war and its advocates, and against Israel and its crimes. His statements during his confirmation hearings do not alter his stances, and only reflect his self-preservation in order to confront the attacks against him by the warmongering cabal. In 2002, Hagel welcomed the Arab peace plan, or the proposal by then Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the current king, for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the borders of 1967, living in peace side by side with Israel. On January 12, 2003, the Lincoln Journal Star, in an interview with Hagel, quoted the former senator as saying that Israel kept Palestinians caged up like animals. Hagel also criticized the division of the Palestinian people, and called on Fatah and Hamas to unite in the same interview. In 2007, Hagel voted against the Kyl-Lieberman amendment in the Senate, which labeled the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group. In 2008, Hagel spoke of a “Jewish lobby” threatening members of Congress. Though he retracted this statement during his confirmation hearings, and stated that he should have said “pro-Israel lobby” instead, I say that the Israel lobby has indeed bribed members of Congress and put them under its total control. In 2009, Hagel gave a speech to J Street, a moderate pro-Israel lobby named after the street that houses its headquarters in Washington D.C. Hagel said in his speech that relations with Israel should not come at the expense of U.S. relations with friendly Arab countries. Instead, he argued, Washington should maintain strong ties with both sides, as this was something fundamental and not marginal to counter-terrorism and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, as well as securing global energy supplies. Although Hagel spoke at a pro-Israeli Jewish lobby, the warmongering cabal, which comprises the neocons and Likudnik Americans that betray “their country” every day for the benefit of Israel, attacked him sharply and said that his statements constituted betrayal of Israel and the so-called special bond with the United States. What is important now is for the trio, that is, Obama, Kerry and Hagel, to begin working in earnest for advancing U.S. interests, rather than those of Israel. This would be enough for us. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.