From The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/30/04:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/30/MNGTS7E5RK1.DTL
Republican senator rips Bush on Iraq strategy
Hagel says war hurt U.S. in terror battle
James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writer
Los Angeles --
Sen. Chuck Hagel, an influential moderate Republican from Nebraska,
sharply criticized the Bush administration in an interview here
Tuesday, saying that the war in Iraq appears to have hurt America in
its battle against terrorism.
Hagel, a politician sometimes mentioned as a future presidential
contender, also said the United States is going to have to consider
restarting the draft to maintain its many military commitments abroad.
In a sharp critique of the leader of his own party, Hagel said he
believes the occupation of Iraq by the American military was poorly
planned and has spread terrorist cells more widely around the world.
"This put in motion a new geographic dispersion" of the terrorists,
said Hagel, 58, in an interview before delivering a speech to the
World Affairs Council in Los Angeles.
"It's harder to deal with them because they're not as contained. Iraq
has become a training ground."
He added that although it is too soon to judge how the war in Iraq
will ultimately influence the war on terror, in the short term it has
created more terrorists and given them more targets -- American
soldiers.
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Over 850 Americans have died in Bush's disastrous quagmire.
Harry
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