Hagel and the Dems: The Plot

Chuck Hagel loves the limelight.

He loves being the Left's favorite Republican.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats working with a well-known Republican war critic are developing a resolution declaring that President Bush's troop build up in Iraq "is not in the national interest," said people familiar with the document.

The resolution also would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq "can only be sustained" with popular support among the American public and in Congress, according to officials who are knowledgeable about the draft.

These officials would speak only on grounds of anonymity because the drafting is still under way. Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, is helping Democrats with the wording of the anti-war resolution.

"It is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating U.S. troop presence in Iraq," it says.

The resolution will be cosponsored by Sens. Carl Levin and Joseph Biden, as well as Hagel. Levin, D-Mich., chairs the Armed Services Committee, and Biden, D-Del., heads the Foreign Relations Committee.

The Senate leadership is expected by Thursday to propose the resolution, with debate planned around the same time that Bush delivers his State of the Union speech next Tuesday.

Hagel's agreement to help Democrats champion the resolution amounts to a setback to the administration and to Bush, who has argued vehemently that some 21,500 additional U.S. troops are needed to help the Iraqi government calm sectarian violence in Baghdad and Anbar province.

One can say that Hagel's participation in the Dems' efforts to embarrass and weaken President Bush is a setback to the administration.

That's looking at it too narrowly. Hagel and the Dems' actions can't just be seen from a political perspective.

This resolution isn't a setback for the Bush administration alone.

This isn't happening in the vacuum of the Senate.

The BIPARTISAN resolution (courtesy of Hagel), whatever the wording may be, is a setback for our troops, the Iraqi people, the overall War on Terror, and hopes for a stable Middle East.

It's a victory for the enemies of America and the enemies of freedom.

Dem or Republican -- I don't care. What matters to me is that these elected officials fail to see the big picture. They're blinded by their personal political goals. They're slaves to their egos.

How can Hagel be so selfish as to agree to be part of this circus, intentionally timed to counter Bush's State of the Union?