Hagel Resignation - Obama Defeat
President Obama and Secretary of Defense Hagel came to a mutual agreement that the time had come for the change of the head of the Pentagon. Hagel submitted his resignation himself, deciding that for him the best time to leave his post. Not everyone believes this version. For example, The New York Times newspaper, citing senior administration officials, wrote that Hagel resigned under pressure due to several crises in American foreign policy, one of which was caused by the struggle with the “Islamic State” in Syria and Iraq .
Many American politicians believe that Hagel’s resignation points to the beginning of a personnel shake-up at the White House. Hagel is the second member of the cabinet, who resigned in recent months. In September, Justice Minister Eric Holder, who, like Hagel, remains in office until the nomination of the successor is announced of the decision to leave his post. The names of the nominees for these government posts, President Obama is not in a hurry to announce. After all, Hagel himself admitted that he does not see himself in the role of the “belligerent adviser” that Obama needs, because he was invited to the Pentagon to “end the war” and reduce the burden on the country's armed forces. In this, Hagel does not seem to be cunning.
In the Obama administration, Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, was the only representative of the Republican party. As a Vietnam War veteran, he was respected by the military as well. Secretary of Defense Hagel became in February 2013 of the year at the insistence of Obama and with serious resistance from Congress. At that time, the senators were not satisfied that Hagel had previously advocated forging contacts with Tehran, against tightening anti-Iran sanctions, and once refused to sign a letter proposing to include Hezbollah in the list of terrorist organizations. Hagel described the Iraq war as one of the five biggest blunders in stories United States, and President George W. Bush’s foreign policy is “reckless.”
He also spoke in favor of Israel’s talks with Hamas and made public remarks about the omnipotence of the Jewish lobby in Washington. “The Israeli people must be free to live in peace and security. But the Palestinian people should have the same right to live in peace in Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and with the same hope of a prosperous future, ”wrote Chuck Hagel in 2008 year. The procedure of approving him for the post of minister of defense was delayed for four months, many Republican senators and leaders of influential Jewish organizations opposed the approval of Hagel. Analysts warned of the possibility of a conflict between the second Obama administration and the Israeli government, predicting the inevitable clash between Hagel and Netanyahu.
Nevertheless, despite the opposition, Obama managed to achieve consensus agreement. Hagel became Minister of Defense. It is characteristic that, recommending Hagel for this post, President Obama stressed: "Chuck understands that war is not an abstraction." And most recently, the US president acknowledged that he was very lucky with such a secretary of defense, who has excellent relations with the army. What changed?
Hagel’s resignation was preceded by a series of meetings between the president and the head of the Pentagon, at which the US military plans for the next two years were discussed. According to Obama, Hagel announced to him his decision to resign just then. Former US representative to the UN, John Bolton, notes that it was possible to prepare better for this resignation. According to him, such an unexpected announcement of her is a sign that does not bode well. “I think that when this kind of reshuffle takes place, it signals that new problems are ahead,” says John Bolton. What we have in mind is not easing, but rather the opposite - toughening of the US foreign policy.
The leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, believes that the resignation of Chuck Hagel must be accompanied by a "new look at American defense policy." According to Bonera, personnel changes should be part of rethinking the US military strategy so that America can counter foreign threats.
Yes, Hagel had differences with other representatives of the administration about the Ukrainian crisis and conflict in Syria, he criticized his colleagues for maintaining an ill-conceived foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he did not speak about resignation. And now Obama has decided to sacrifice his defense minister to those who are not satisfied with him in the Senate. There, his resignation was brewing in the spring, when the senators blamed Hagel for the fact that the United States had overslept Russia's actions in the Crimea.
Hagel spoke out against the supply of military equipment and weapons to Ukraine. He even objected to sending used armored "Hummers" to Ukraine. Hagel reasonably believes that US shipments can trigger a symmetrical response from Russia. He also did not approve the bombing of the positions of the “Islamic State” (IS), fearing that “all of this could end up sideways for the US” (hint at the tragedy of 2001 of the year in New York). In addition, as the minister responsible for proposals for the formation of the military budget, Hagel did not consider the huge costs of fighting the IG justified, which could cost Washington from 2,4 billion to 3,8 billion a year. By all indications, Hagel’s frustration with the current administration’s foreign policy was piling up.
The mid-term elections held in the US on November 4 ended in victory for the Republicans, who, for the first time since 2006, began to control the congress entirely. Obama's statement that he believes this is not a defeat, but a standard democratic procedure, is unable to alleviate America’s disappointment in its president, whose activities are negatively evaluated by more than half of Americans. Republican senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, with pathos, proclaimed: "The American people rebelled." It is unlikely that this is true, but the fact that voting in the mid-term elections of 4 in November was a kind of referendum, in which Obama’s course was not approved, is beyond doubt. Chuck Hagel turned into one of those who no longer trust Barack Obama, and the resignation of the defense minister was Obama’s defeat in relations with Congress.
Today, the Obama team is facing serious resistance within the Democratic Party. A Democratic senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, says: "We actually have to fight against our own government, against our own administration and our president." In the Democratic Party, the Democrats' defeat in the congressional elections was called "Obama's personal defeat."
Advisors to Hillary Clinton advised her to distance herself as much as possible from the current president. This means that after the resignation of Hagel, other resignations may follow, and the number of Obama supporters in government circles risks falling to an indecently low level.
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