Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
2008
Abstract
In America: Our Next Chapter, Hagel presents his take on where the nation stands and where he thinks it is-and should be-headed. The volume reflects his interest in history, his Nebraska heritage, and the insider knowledge he's gained as a member of the Senate and its Foreign Relations Committee. More than half the book addresses international relations and U.S. foreign policy, one of Hagel's longtime and most intense interests. It criticizes America's invasion of Iraq and the way the Bush administration handled the war. Hagel voted for the resolution authorizing the invasion but writes that the president and his aides reassured him that force would be a last resort in dealing with Saddam Hussein. Today, Hagel believes he, the Congress, and the American people were deceived. Congress, he writes, was "asked to vote on a resolution based on half truths, untruths and wishful thinking."
Comments
Published in Great Plains Research, 18:2 (Fall 2008) 248-9. Copyright © 2008 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln