UNDER FIRE: Chuck Hagel took heat from fellow GOPer and Vietnam vet John McCain yesterday. (AFP/Getty Images)
UNDER FIRE: Chuck Hagel (left) took heat from fellow GOPer and Vietnam vet John McCain yesterday. (
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WASHINGTON — Defense-secretary nominee Chuck Hagel yesterday stumbled through his Senate confirmation hearing, misstating a key US policy on Iran and admitting, “There are a lot of things I don’t know about.”
Hagel, a Republican former senator from Nebraska, came in for a rough ride before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where his former colleagues hammered him over his past statements on Iran, Israel and the 2007 Iraqi troop surge.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tried to harpoon the 12-year Senate veteran — a fellow Vietnam veteran — for his criticism of the troop surge that was credited with helping to win the war in Iraq.
“I’ll defer that judgment to history,” Hagel said.
“I think history has already made a judgment about the surge, sir, and you’re on the wrong side it,” McCain shot back.
Another member of the Senate Armed Services Committee considering Hagel’s nomination, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), tore into him for refusing to sign a letter criticizing the Palestinian Liberation Organization for violence against Israel. Hagel was forced to express support for Israel, Iranian sanctions and gay rights, moves that Graham called “a confirmation conversion.”
Asked about his strategy on how to prevent Iran from building a nuke, Hagel misstated the president’s policy, saying, “I support the president’s strong position on containment, as I have said.”
But he had to correct himself after being passed a note by an aide.
“I misspoke and said I supported the president’s position on containment. If I said that, I meant to say we don’t have a position on containment,” he said, further muddying the waters.
Sen. Carl Levin quickly chimed in to set the record straight on Iran. “
“We do have a position on containment, and that is we do not favor containment,” Levin said. “I just wanted to clarify the clarify.”
Hagel admitted that he was unprepared for some questions. on issues ranging from submarines to new technology.
“And I’ve said, I don’t know enough about it. I don’t. There are a lot of things I don’t know about. If confirmed, I intend to know a lot more than I do. I will have to,” Hagel said.