Chuck Hagel Quotations

Our alliances should be understood as a means to expand our influence, not as a constraint on our power. The expansion of democracy and freedom in the world should be a shared interest and value with all nations.

The United Nations has a critical role to play in promoting stability, security, democracy, human rights, and economic development. The UN is as relevant today as at any time in its history, but it needs reform.

Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility.

Our foreign policy needs to support our energy, economic, defense and domestic policies. It all falls within the arch of national interest. There will be windows of opportunity, but they will open and close quickly.

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.

I would not trade America's position in the world - our ledger, our debts and assets - for any country in the world. There isn't a country in the world even close to America.

Too often in Washington we tend to see foreign policy as an abstraction, with little understanding of what we are committing our country to: the complications and consequences of endeavors.

Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.

No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record.

Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.

We live in a world where there are dangerous people, there are bad people.

Well, Mr Obama inherited probably the biggest inventory of problems, certainly foreign policy problems, than any American president ever has. I think the entire inventory of problems that he inherited is probably as big overall as any president, certainly since Franklin Roosevelt and maybe, in some cases, worse.

Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift.

I have never believed you go to war in Iraq, you go to war in Afghanistan, and believe that you can deal with those battlefields, those countries, in microcosms, or narrow channels.

When you're dealing in situations that are uncontrollable and combustible, you try to stabilize the situation as quickly as you can and then work toward and work out toward democratic reform.

I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism,

I'm a supporter of Israel, always have been.

Well, let's go back to the original intent of Social Security. It is an insurance contract.

When I came to the Senate in 1997, the world was being redefined by forces no single country controlled or understood. The implosion of the Soviet Union and a historic diffusion of economic and geopolitical power created new influences and established new global power centers - and new threats.

Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.

Nations, great nations have limitations. All nations have limitations. Even great powers have limitations.

The United States can't impose democracies. We can't impose our will. The Russians found that out in Afghanistan.

My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together, and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests.

People are not trying to get into China, they're trying to get out of China. The United States is the only great country where people are trying to get into to this country for obvious reasons.

I'm not saying my idea is the one and only idea. We should have other ideas, but the president has not laid down a specific plan as to how he's going to get us to solvency. I do that.

It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.

We are at a very important and delicate point in our relationship with the People's Republic of China and how this is handled will go a long way as to the future of that relationship,

We're isolating ourselves in the world ... And I think that the leadership of the Pentagon has done that in many ways to us, ... This issue of a secretary of defense not personally signing these letters is just astounding.

We very much appreciate Kuwait's recent contributions, significant contributions, offering half a billion dollars to the victims of Hurricane Katrina,

No one knows what the country -- or the party -- will be looking for when we get ready to choose a new president.

No one knows how many millions of dollars have been tucked away for special projects for individual members behind a curtain.

If we, in fact -- as the president says and I agree -- are in a generational war here against terrorism, it's going to require resources. The mission must match the resources,

I don't have any qualms about him unless something obviously comes out of nowhere. I doubt that's going to happen, ... I think he represents the best of judicial prudence and style and records and qualifications.

I'd like to see somebody, day to day, minute to minute, in that thing, right now, trying to bring it together, ... Late Edition.

I don't know where he's going to get these troops, ... There won't be any National Guard left ... no Army Reserve left ... there is no way America is going to have 100,000 troops in Iraq, nor should it, in four years.

China's leaders will not achieve their long-term goal of social stability and continued economic development without building a future that includes human rights for all Chinese citizens.

I look forward to enthusiastically supporting his nomination,

I have always been concerned about centralization of power and eroding individual rights.

I have met her, but beyond that, I really haven't worked with her. I know very little about her.

If in fact we are treating prisoners this way, it's not only wrong, it's dangerous and very dumb and very shortsighted,

If we lose our allies and do something very precipitous, it would endanger not just Americans around the world, but it would endanger this country, our security, stability in the world for a long time to come because we were rash in using our power.

He won a majority of the vote. Well, who are we to say that they don't have that right in making that decision? My point in using that example is that at some point we are going to have to go back and allow the people to make the choices here.

We took a day and a half to make sure that no millionaires could oust any of my colleagues from their seats, ... And many of my colleagues used terms like, 'my seat,' 'our seat,' don't let anybody threaten that, of course.

Historians will look back on this day and say this was a turning point, ... This is a significant step toward the Congress exercising its constitutional responsibilities over matters of war.

It cannot be seen as a puppet of the United States because if it is, then we will run the risk of losing Iraq, ... In the end, it is the Iraqi people that will make the decisions.

It becomes a question as to what can the U.S. and our allies do, what should we do, what action, what option do we have?

I think the American people want to have confidence in this administration's national security plans. And this is the only way to do it.

I think we are going to have to take a very serious look at where we are going to prioritize our resources, ... We can't do it all, just as we found out in Vietnam.

I think the wise course of action, the compassionate course of action, the better course of action would have been to immediately invite her in to the ranch,

locked into a bogged-down problem, not dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam.

It does point up how dangerous this can be, ... This Week.

I think he represents the best of judicial prudence, style and qualifications,

John's not going to put this country and this party through some high theater and high drama ... that's not his style, John is straightforward, says it plain and that's what he will do here, I suspect, in the next couple of days,

John's a realist. John counts pretty well ... John's a very effective leader and politician, and mathematically you just can't get there.

The 21st century will require a re-affirmation and re-definition of our alliances and international organizations.

I was probably the main driver on the Republican side because I thought we needed the answers to whether intelligence was misused, intentionally or unintentionally,

We were unprepared for what we were going to face, what we are facing, in a post-Saddam Iraq. And this is just one more manifestation of the problem.

Well, no American wants to in any way hurt our capabilities to national defense, but that doesn't mean an unlimited amount of money, and a blank check for anything they want at any time, for any purpose. Not at all.

What I think the White House does not yet understand and some of my colleagues, is the dam has broken on this (Iraq) policy.

What I think the White House does not yet understand ? and some of my colleagues ? the dam has broke on this policy, ... The longer we stay there, the more similarities (to Vietnam) are going to come together.

Institutions are imperfect. Governments surely are. People are.

We must prepare for everything.

You can't just drop the 82nd Airborne into Baghdad and it will all be over.

Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.

Palestinians caged up like animals.

And this - this board was - was impanelled in 1951. And it's gone through ups and downs in how the secretaries have used it. But I have put a premium on that advisory board.

(The) chain of command has failed over the years, obviously, for a lot of reasons.

There has to be a reason and objective (to air strikes). What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political conversation?

This current government in Iraq has never fulfilled the commitments it made to form a unity government with the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia. We have worked hard with them within the confines of our ability to do that but we can't dictate to them.

If America is to succeed in responding to these 21st Century challenges, our political system cannot continue to bog down in the mire of partisan gamesmanship.

We can't ... take that piece of reality in this business and set that aside and say, well, that doesn't count. And the Republicans on my side understand that the majority is in fact up for grabs next year. So there's not a decision made up here that doesn't have that factor coursing through that current.

Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away. And that's where the Palestinians are today.

History has shown that a country most effectively speaks with one voice. When nationally elected officials work together, build consensus, and provide leadership, the American people will follow.

I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families.

The twenty first century will require a re-affirmation and re-definition of our alliances and international organisations.

I believe, and always have, that America must engage - not retreat - in the world.

If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.

Deserves some consideration, and I think that should have been done right from the beginning.

I don't think it's a matter of going back and having a review of our process. Our process is about as thorough as there can be. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes, but we start with the fact that we have an American that's being held hostage and that American's life is in danger and that's where we start. And then we proceed from there.

The recent wave of Taliban attacks has made clear that the international community must not waiver in its support for a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.

Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam.

Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq.

And I want every one of you, every one of us, 100 senators to look in that camera, and you tell your people back home what you think. Don't hide anymore; none of us. That is the essence of our responsibility. And if we're not willing to do it, we're not worthy to be seated right here. We fail our country. If we don't debate this, if we don't debate this, we are not worthy of our country. We fail our country.

The Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and elsewhere, and should not be demonized or condemned for disagreeing with them. Suggesting that to challenge and criticize policy is undermining and hurting our troops is not democratic, nor what this country has stood for over 200 years.

In a general way, if one cannot attribute to the Jew the whole responsibility of the situation, economic, political, and social, by which Algeria is being strangled, it is no exaggeration to recognize him as morally guilty, for the great part of his rìle here, still more than elsewhere, has consisted in corrupting, degrading, and disintegrating.

The Israeli people must be free to live in peace and security.

No border that touches Israel is always secure.

I’m a United States senator. I’m not an Israeli senator.

I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.

There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction. And thinking through, asking the questions, "Well, then what happens? What comes next?" is critically important.

Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning.

We should start figuring out how we get out of there. But with this understanding, we cannot leave a vacuum that further destabilizes the Middle East,

We should start figuring out how we get out of there,

Why in the world they're doing that, I don't know. You've got 90 senators out of 100 and that includes many Republicans opposed to it,

Trust and confidence in the United States has been seriously eroded. The United States should begin drawing down forces in Iraq next year.

This will be the defining race for the future of our state, ... We will elect a new senator and a new congressman. There are 20 seats open in the state legislature. This is serious business.

We need to be patient here; time is on our side here,

The president should be, in my opinion, reviewing and analyzing and putting some deep perspective into who's around him at the White House,

To question your government is not unpatriotic -- to not question your government is unpatriotic, ... America owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices.

To not question . . . is unpatriotic.