Dan Lamothe, Washington Post: Why former Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel’s coming out against the White House matters
When Chuck Hagel resigned as defense secretary last year, the narrative was clear: President Obama and he did not see eye-to-eye on how to prosecute the war against the Islamic State, so Hagel needed to go. White House officials, speaking anonymously, said at the time that the president had lost faith in Hagel’s ability to lead — a charge that Hagel’s advisers brushed aside.
Now, a little over a year later, Hagel is swinging back. In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published Friday, he said he remains puzzled why White House officials tried to “destroy” him personally in his last days in office, adding that he was convinced the United States had no viable strategy in Syria and was particularly frustrated with National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who he said would hold meetings and focus on “nit-picky” details.
“I eventually got to the point where I told Susan Rice that I wasn’t going to spend more than two hours in these meetings,” Hagel told Foreign Policy. “Some of them would go four hours.”
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WNU Editor: Here is another commentary on Chuck Hagel's remarks .... Chuck Hagel's Astonishing Admission on Syria (Micah Zenko, The Atlantic). As to what is my take on this story .... Chuck Hagel was an "underwhelming" Defense Secretary .... and could not get alone with President Obama's inner circle ... hence his firing. On a side note .... expect more "exposes" and "confessions" from other former administration officials when President Obama is no longer in the White House .... doubly so if the Republicans win the White House in 2016 resulting in many Democrats looking for work.
3 comments:
More worried about how the table was set than what was served.
A new Cabinet Secretary is selected:
http://assets.amuniversal.com/0d3b6ef079e101332131005056a9545d
Obama's administration has been full of unqualified people. H. Clinton as SecState was the most obvious example. Obama wanted his rival out of the Senate and how much harm could she do at State? --Only Libya, Syria, Afghanistan...the list goes on.
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