MAINSTREAM REPUBLICAN REGAINS SANITY
Hagel Defends Criticisms of Iraq Policy

From the Washington Post courtesy of Eschaton:

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) strongly criticized yesterday the White House's new line of attack against critics of its Iraq policy, saying that "the Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them."

With President Bush leading the charge, administration officials have lashed out at Democrats who have accused the administration of manipulating intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. Bush has suggested that critics are hurting the war effort, telling U.S. troops in Alaska on Monday that critics "are sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. And that's irresponsible."

Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and a potential presidential candidate in 2008, countered in a speech to the Council of Foreign Relations that the Vietnam War "was a national tragedy partly because members of Congress failed their country, remained silent and lacked the courage to challenge the administrations in power until it was too late."

"To question your government is not unpatriotic -- to not question your government is unpatriotic," Hagel said, arguing that 58,000 troops died in Vietnam because of silence by political leaders. "America owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices."

Emphasis mine. Click here for the rest.

Of course, I've been saying this all along. Indeed, when virtually everybody was supporting the rash invasion of Afghanistan, which still hasn't really succeeded in capturing Bin Laden or establishing a new democracy, I felt quite alone in my assertion that it was my patriotic responsibility to speak out whenever I see my nation headed down the path of self-destruction. To be fair, there were some voices speaking out at the time, but even mainstream liberals like Eric Alterman supported the invasion, while right wingers savaged any and all public dissent; in fact, a lot of liberals joined in on the bashing. That's not how democracy functions: without citizens expressing their opinions about how the country ought to be run, powerful elites do whatever they want. Intimidating the opposition is simply anti-American, and the couple of years following 9/11 will be remembered as a time when our country was in great danger of abandoning its most precious ideals. It's nice to know that even Republicans are coming to their senses.

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