quote:

---

Chuck Hagel stumbled Thursday during questioning on Iran, inadvertently saying the Obama administration supports “containment” and calling the country an “elected legitimate government.

---

quote:

---

"I support the president's strong position on containment, as I have said," the former Republican senator from Nebraska told the Senate Armed Services Committee considering his nomination for Defense secretary.

---

quote:

---

Later, Hagel, who was being questioned by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), was passed a note informing him of his mistake, and he offered a correction.

---

quote:

---

"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,"

---

quote:

---

and Decatur, you're bordering on Rex craziness. FYI

---

quote:

---

In the morning session of his confirmation hearing for secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel struck a largely conciliatory tone, deflecting the most confrontational questions from Republican senators over his foreign policy views and largely declining to engage in the details of their critiques.

Hagel's approach seemed designed to avoid miring the former Republican senator from Nebraska in a messy debate about some of the hot-button issues that had dominated headlines in recent weeks, including his controversial stance on gays in the military and his pro-Israel bona fides.

But his reticence also appeared to irritate members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who sought direct responses to their "fundamental differences of opinion," as one of them, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), put it.

After repeatedly trying to get Hagel to respond to a yes-or-no question about whether he stood by his past remarks that the surge in Iraq would prove to be a dangerous mistake, McCain said that Hagel's "refusal to answer whether you were right or wrong about it is going to have an impact on my judgment as to whether to vote for your confirmation or not."

It was a pattern that repeated over the morning, frustrating both Hagel opponents and supporters alike.

---

quote:

---

such a spine on that one

---

quote:

---

such a spine on that one

---

quote:

---

such a spine on that one

---

quote:

---

I think he has some significant spine.

Hagel is a Vietnam War veteran, having served in the United States Army infantry from 1967 to 1968. Holding the rank of Sergeant (E-5), he served as an infantry squad leader in the 9th Infantry Division.[7] Hagel served in the same infantry squad as his younger brother Tom, and they are believed to be the only American siblings to have done so during the Vietnam War.[8] They also ended up saving each other's lives on separate occasions.[8] While serving during the war, he received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, two Purple Hearts, Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.[9]

---

quote:

---

The bigger issue from the hearing was that Hagel was on Al-Jazeera and agreed with the questioners premise that the US was "the world's bully" and that it was an "important observation"

---