Melanie Morgan

Time Magazine reporter Mark Thompson thinks it is shameless for the organization that I helped co-found, Move America Forward, to criticize the choice of former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. They seem to be shocked, SHOCKED that we might take issue with a man known for is anti-semitic pro-terrorist views.

"Move America Forward <http://www.moveamericaforward.org/>  is using
President Obama's nomination of former Republican senator Chuck Hagel to
forge hate and, its real aim, to raise money. A conservative San Francisco
radio talk-show host and a former California assemblyman created the outfit
in 2004.

"There is already substantial opposition to his nomination and he can be
stopped, but we have to act quickly if we are going to be successful," the
group told Battleland in an email that stunk up our inbox overnight. "We
urgently need to raise $50,000 to produce and begin to air our first ad in
opposition to President Obama's insulting nomination of Sen. Hagel."

It's strange how rancid our politics have become. It's shrill, vile and not
befitting this country. Groups like Move America Backward accelerate the
process."

Infuriating that this kind of tripe passes for commentary. If anyone should be called shrill, vile and not befitting this country it is CHUCK HAGEL.

His former colleague Senator Rick Santorum has published a list of the top 10 reasons not to nominate Hagel and every one of these are valid.

Senator Hagel has a disturbing policy history of pandering to Iran and not supporting our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel.

Below are ten reasons to OPPOSE the Hagel nomination:

1) The Iranian regime has welcomed Senator Hagel’s nomination stating that his successful confirmation could help diplomatic relations. This is because Hagel has repeatedly supported policies that further the nuclear ambition of our top national security threat: the Iranian Regime and Radical Islam. In fact, Chuck Hagel has long-standing ties to the “pro-Terhan” lobby in Washington. Throughout the 2000s he was a frequent speaker for the American-Iranian Council, the regime’s lobby in the U.S.

2) In 2007, Senator Hagel voted against an important amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill that would label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization. This came at a time when it was clear that the IRGC was providing weapons, training, and financing to those killing Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

3) Senator Hagel has urged the Bush administration to pursue “direct, unconditional and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran” and has repeatedly voted against sanctions.  And in 2001, Hagel was one of just two U.S. senators to vote against sanctions for Iran.  And in 2002, he attend an American-Iranian Council conference, speaking out about the need to abandon sanctions

4) Senator Hagel has ruled out using military options against Iran. This is even to the left of President Obama who has not ruled out the use of military force.

5) When Palestinian suicide bombers were blasting Israelis to pieces in 2002, Hagel wrote in an op-ed article that this was the time for Israel to “take steps to show its commitment to peace.” At the beginning of the Palestinian uprising (Second Intifada), in which an estimated 4,000 people died, Hagel refused to sign a letter supporting Israel.

6) Senator Hagel’s comment to a reporter that supporters of Israel are a “Jewish lobby” indicate his insensitivity toward our ally Israel. It also undermines the fact that Americans of all ethnicities and varied faiths stand behind Israel as a true democracy that enhances our national security.

7) Senator Hagel has supported direct talks with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., and a group that pledges to destroy the state of Israel. During conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, Hagel refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

8) Senator Hagel opposed the “troop surge” in Iraq which turned the tide of the war at a critical time.

9) Senator Hagel strongly supports defense budget cuts and a “pared down Pentagon.” This is to the left of current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who has said repeatedly that pending defense cuts supported by President Obama will have substantial negative effects on U.S. National Security.

10) In the Senate, Hagel supported a bill that would have removed sanctions on Cuba, telling a newspaper that Castro was nothing but “a toothless old dinosaur.”  The Castro regime has of course become an ally to some of our greatest enemy threats, Iran and Venezuela