Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel open to idea of transgender troops

The military's main focus is defense and winning wars, not diversity. Our military leaders have lost focus of what is important. 

Via HuffPo:

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday he believes the military’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the armed forces “should be reviewed.”

While the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed in 2010, transgender individuals are still prohibited from serving.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Hagel said he’s “open” to reconsidering the ban.

“I do think it continually should be reviewed,” he told ABC’s Martha Raddatz. “I’m open to those assessments, because, again, I go back to the bottom line, every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it.”

Hagel said his biggest area concern with reforming the policy is being able to provide medical support to transgender troops, especially for those in what he called “austere locations.”

Worst defense Secretary nominee ever gets confirmed...

Sadly, my senator, Rand Paul, voted for confirmation...

Via WaPo:

Chuck Hagel won confirmation Tuesday to become defense secretary over objections to his views on Middle East security and the administration’s handling of an attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.

On a 58 to 41 vote, the Senate confirmed the former GOP senator as four Republicans joined 54 Democrats in approving Hagel, ending a nearly two-month battle that included an unprecedented filibuster against the nominee.

The four Republican senators voting in favor were Thad Cochran (Miss.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) and Rand Paul (Ky.). All 41 no votes came from Republicans.

The vote marked a foreign policy victory for President Obama, who pushed the nomination of his old friend from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee despite warnings of a rough confirmation process. Hagel, a former Army infantryman who was awarded two Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War, will become the first enlisted man to go on to lead the Pentagon.

Interesting: Woodward claims Dems have asked WH to pull Hagel (Video)

Too good to check...

Chuck Hagel received funding from group called “Friends of Hamas.”

Why does this man hate Israel  so much?

Via Breitbart:

On Thursday, Senate sources told Breitbart News exclusively that they have been informed that one of the reasons that President Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, has not turned over requested documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called “Friends of Hamas.”

Yesterday, 25 senators sent a letter to Hagel demanding information on his foreign funding. Hagel has refused all such requests, prompting the senators to state, “in the judgment of the undersigned, a Committee vote on your nomination should not occur unless and until you provide the requested information.”

Keep on reading…

Video: Hagel Asked Why Iranian Foreign Ministry Supports His Nomination

Haagel claims he has no idea. Perhaps someone should sell him a vowel. 

Hagel Asked Why Iranian Foreign Ministry Supports His Nomination 
 

Flashback: Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel declared Israel “keep[ing] Palestinians caged up like animals.”

Hagel is the wrong man and should not be confirmed.



Via WFB:

Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel protested what he called the “completely distorted” record on Israel that his critics are promoting in an interview earlier this month with his hometown newspaper.

The former Nebraska senator said an accurate assessment would show “unequivocal, total support for Israel.”

Yet a decade earlier, the same newspaper–the Lincoln Journal Star–quoted Hagel making a startling accusation against Israel in a Jan. 12, 2003 article. Israel, Hagel declared, was “keep[ing] Palestinians caged up like animals.”

Keep reading…