Conservative from the U.S. heartland is a maverick

I first read this article in the dead tree IHT I get every morning together with the English edition of Ha'Aretz. In spite of 24/7 broadband internet, I still enjoy the newspaper.

In this article, a Republican Senator appears who I never heard of before. Chuck Hagel was questioning the Iraq war six months before the attack started.

What sounded then to the venture's true believers like the scolding of a Cassandra sounds fairly obvious three and a half years later, which is to say that Hagel's words can reasonably be read as prescient: 'How many of us really know and understand Iraq, its country, history, people and role in the Arab world? . . . The American people must be told of the long-term commitment, risk and cost of this undertaking. We should not be seduced by the expectations of dancing in the streets.'

As a Vietnam veteran with two purple hearts, nobody could possibly call him a 'bleeding heart liberal' which , by the way, is what Kennedy , a supposed Democrat used to call people who questioned his policies. No doubt , if he did try to run for President he would be 'Swifted'. He strikes me as a thoughtful person and as a Republican not afraid to question.

This party that sometimes I don't recognize anymore has presided over the largest growth of government in the history of this country and maybe even the history of man.

A man to watch.
As an aside, sometimes I get very tired of how easily the Muslim world blames the Jews for all that is evil. I'd forgotten that for a typical Iranian, the British fill that role.