Friday, January 26, 2007

Give em hell, Hagel

"You can't govern without Congress," Hagel tells White House

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), one of President Bush's toughest critics on the handling of the Iraq war, told the White House Friday that it "can't govern without Congress."

Hagel said he was "confounded" by the administration saying that it would forge ahead with its plan to add more troops, even if Congress expresses its disapproval with such a strategy.

"To say that the president is not going to listen to the Congress is astounding," Hagel said on NBC's "Today" show. "It's astounding. I've never heard a president say that."

The lawmaker pointed out that Congress is a co-equal branch of the government and a partner of the president.

"He certainly has powers of commander in chief, certain powers," the lawmaker added. "We do as well."

Hagel is the co-sponsor of a resolution that would reject the surge proposal. The non-binding measure passed the Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday. On Friday, the lawmaker again strongly criticized the surge plan.

"Are we going to just blindly continue to feed more troops into this situation, a sectarian civil war that American troops cannot win? We put these young men and women in situations where they can't win," he said.

Bush addressed Congress's concerns of his new plan Friday, following the unanimous Senate confirmation of Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus as the new commander of the multinational forces in Iraq.

"I know there is skepticism and pessimism, and that some are condemning a plan before it's even had a chance to work," Bush told reporters. "And they have an obligation and a serious responsibility, therefore, to put up their own plan as to what would work."

Hagel sees the resolution as a first step in a beginning debate on Iraq, adding that there would be many opportunities to address the issue, including the appropriations process.

- Klaus Marre

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