Republicans hammer Obama's defense nominee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators hammered President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary at his confirmation hearing on issues ranging from Israel and Iran to his support for a group that advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons. But with most Democrats in his corner, an unflustered Chuck Hagel seems headed for approval as Pentagon chief.

Hagel, a former Republican two-term senator from Nebraska, described his views as mainstream and closely aligned with those of Obama, the Democrat who nominated him. As a senator, Hagel often broke with Republican ranks, including his eventual criticism of the Iraq war, which Obama also opposed.

Several Republican members of the Armed Services Committee sought to portray him as radical and unsteady during the hearing Thursday. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska called his ideas "extreme" and "far to the left" of Obama.

Despite the sharp questioning, Hagel was likely to be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate. After the daylong hearing, committee Chairman Carl Levin said the panel could vote as early as next week.

Hagel said he believes America "must engage — not retreat — in the world," and insisted that his record is consistent on that point.

He pointed to Iran and its nuclear ambitions as an example of an urgent national security threat that should be addressed first by attempting to establish dialogue with Iranian rulers, although he said he would not rule out using military force.

"I think we're always on higher ground in every way — international law, domestic law, people of the world, people of the region to be with us on this — if we have ... gone through every possibility to resolve this in a responsible, peaceful way, rather than going to war," he said.

He pushed back on the notion — first raised by one of his harshest Republican critics, Sen. James Inhofe — that he favors a policy of appeasement.

"I think engagement is clearly in our interest," Hagel told Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who denounced the idea of negotiating with a "terrorist state."

"That's not negotiation," Hagel said. "Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender."

His fiercest exchange came with Sen. John McCain, a fellow Vietnam veteran, onetime close friend and a vote that could carry considerable sway. Politics and Hagel's evolving opposition to the Iraq war caused a split between the two men that was on full display.

McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate who lost to Obama in 2008, pressed Hagel on whether he was right or wrong about his opposition to President George W. Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost.

Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the conflict, comparing it to Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus from Afghanistan.

"Were you right? Were you correct in your assessment?" McCain asked.

"I would defer to the judgment of history to sort that out," Hagel said as the two men talked over each other.

"The committee deserves your judgment as to whether you were right or wrong about the surge," McCain insisted.

Unable to elicit a simple response, McCain said the record should show that Hagel refused to answer. And he made it clear that he would have the final word — with his vote, which he said would be influenced by Hagel's refusal to answer yes or no.

Responding to criticism from outside Republican-leaning groups, Hagel repeated his regrets about using the term "Jewish lobby" to refer to pro-Israel groups. He said he should have used another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.

"I'm sorry and I regret it," Hagel said. "On the use of 'intimidation,' I should have used 'influence,' I think would have been more appropriate."

Hagel, the lone witness in a jam-packed hearing room, spoke out forcefully for a strong military while trying to explain 12 years of Senate votes and numerous statements.

"No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record," Hagel said in his opening statement. "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."

Hagel, 66, would be the lone Republican in Obama's second-term Cabinet, the first Vietnam veteran to be defense secretary and the first enlisted man to take the post.

Republicans repeatedly questioned Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored by the advocacy group Global Zero that called for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world's nuclear arms.

The group argued that with the Cold War over, the United States can reduce its total nuclear arsenal to 900 without sacrificing security. Currently, the U.S. and Russia have about 5,000 each, either deployed or in reserve. Both countries are on track to reduce their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 by 2018, the number set in the New START treaty that the Senate ratified in December 2010.

Hagel insisted that the report was merely illustrative and said it wasn't realistic to consider unilateral nuclear weapons reductions.