Former GOP Senator: primary US focus should be economic, not military.

This editorial is about a speech former GOP Senator Hagel gave as a guest of the World Affairs Council. Having won elections in '96 & '02 with large margins, he honored his campaign pledge to only serve two terms and did not run for re-election. He once stated, "In American politics, you are penalized if you think."

Hagel's candor: The former senator calls for a new realism overseas
Monday, May 23, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Chuck Hagel, a former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, was in Pittsburgh last week as a guest of the World Affairs Council, providing keen observations on what he sees as a new world order in foreign affairs.

Mr. Hagel is a professor at Georgetown University and the University of Nebraska, chairman of the Atlantic Council and a member of advisory boards at the Departments of Defense and Energy, thus remaining very much in the American policy debate.

Part of his message in Pittsburgh was a statement of hopeful realism in U.S. foreign relations. He observed that the United States is no longer dominant in the world and asserted that its primary focus should be economic, rather than military or political. He said, "Budgets drive policy," and that should be the core reality of U.S. international relations. He said America should now focus its attention on countries such as Egypt and Turkey as critical future partners, including accepting and following up on the new Egypt's admonition to America to talk to Iran.

Asked what today's Republican Party brings to the national dialogue on foreign affairs, his answer was, basically, nothing. There is no Republican foreign policy as such and no leader of the party at this time. Perhaps a leader and a policy will emerge as the electoral campaign proceeds.

First published on May 23, 2011 at 12:00 am

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11143/1148465-192.stm#ixzz1NBapagrX

Simple, cutting the military will fix the economy.

it is both welfare for the defense contracting industry and conquest and protection for american business endeavors abroad.

the propaganda you hear rationalizing military actions and presence is just that, propaganda. it's always about money, or at least, money is always "primary".


more to the point is that the WAY in which the military goes about trying to support the economy is thoroughly misguided, and the waste and graft involved is ridiculously excessive. the econonic benefits go to a narrow band of corporations while the price is paid by many.