Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com & Breitbart & David A. Graham / The Atlantic – 2014-11-01 12:58:17
Hagel: New World Order Means Endless War
Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com
(October 31, 2014) — It seems lately that every war the United States gets itself into can’t just be another war, it has to be an open-ended clash of civilizations. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel set out that assessment fairly straightforwardly in his recent comments at the Washington Ideas Festival.
“We are living through one of these historic, defining times,” Hagel warned, “We are seeing a new world order — post-World War II, post-Soviet Union implosion.”
Hagel went on to make it quite clear what that meant, open-ended war with ISIS and open-ended war with various other enemies of the US military will require a “steady, long-term effort” to defeat.
Other officials have talked about the ISIS conflict being a 30-year war, and that seems extremely speculative, as officials haven’t laid out what victory will even look like, let alone how it’s going to happen.
Hagel’s been keen to talk about the “new world order” in speeches for months now, and while he never makes it clear what he envisions that looking like when it all shakes out, the underlying constant is wars, and lots of them.
Hagel’s most recent speech didn’t even treat the endless wars as a controversial thing, rather as an inevitability that both sides of Congress need to get used to and start cooperating on.
Hagel: ‘I Think We Are Seeing a New World Order’
Breitbart
(October 29, 2014) — Wednesday at the Aspen Institute’s “Washington Ideas Forum,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said we are living through, “historic, defining times,” that will result in a, “new world order.â€
When questioned about the ongoing global chaos by the national correspondent for The Atlantic, James Fallows Hagel said, “I think we are living through one of these historic, defining times. I think we are seeing a new world order.â€
“What we’re seeing in the Middle East with ISIL is going to require a steady, long-term effort. It’s going to require coalitions of common interests, which we are forming,†he added.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel:
Get Used to Endless War
David A. Graham / The Atlantic
(October 29 2014) — Sometimes it feels like what’s happening now, at any given moment, is bigger, more important, worse, and more dangerous than before. Luckily, that often turns out to be incorrect: Today’s news is tomorrow’s hazy memory, and what once seemed like an existential threat is now nothing more than an unpleasant recollection.
It sure seems like there are frightening events happening everywhere today — from ISIS to Ebola, Russian imperialism to Chinese saber-rattling, climate change to congressional dysfunction. But is it really worse, or will this, too, pass?
Bad news: It’s really worse, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told James Fallows at the Washington Ideas Festival Wednesday.
“I think we are living through one of these historic, defining times,” Hagel said. “We are seeing a new world order — post-World War II, post-Soviet Union implosion — being built. There are many questions, foremost among the American people: What’s the role of America in this new world that is evolving? Should we have a role? What is appropriate?”
And Hagel didn’t seem especially sanguine that it would end anytime soon. In other words: Get used to endless war.
“What we’re seeing in the Middle East with ISIL is going to require a steady, long-term effort. It’s going to require coalitions of common interest,” Hagel said.
But he noted that cooperation is in short supply, especially in his old stamping grounds on Capitol Hill, where Hagel served two terms in the Senate.
“I hope that changes after next Tuesday; I don’t know,” he said. “Partnership is critical, because its not a matter of ‘We all have to agree.’ We need different opinions, but … both sides get to some conclusion and make a decision on how we go forward.”
He noted in particular the challenge of global warming, which Hagel’s Pentagon has made a priority, declaring it a national-security threat, even as Hagel’s own Republican Party continues to block broader steps.
Even if a new era of comity arrived in Washington, however, Hagel forecast that the U.S. would continue to grapple with overseas threat for the foreseeable future. “Tyranny, terrorism, the challenges and threats to our country … is going to be with us,” he said. “It’s a reality. I see these things continuing to stay out of there.”
Buckle your seatbelts.
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