Hagel:Congress gave Bush too much power in foreign policy

Republican senator says Congress gave Bush too much leeway in foreign policy
The Associated Press
10/21/03 11:18 AM


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is strongly criticizing Congress, saying it gave President Bush too much latitude in conducting foreign policy following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Hagel, of Nebraska, voiced his disapproval Monday in a speech at the Gallup Organization World Conference in Omaha.

"When the security of this nation is threatened, Congress and the American people give the president great latitude," he said. "We probably have given this president more flexibility, more latitude, more range, unquestioned, than any president since Franklin Roosevelt -- probably too much. The Congress, in my opinion, really abrogated much of its responsibility."

Hagel, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted last year to give the president the authority to attack Iraq but has frequently criticized Bush's execution of the war. He has been especially critical of the lack of allies and U.N. support.

Most people in other countries are too young to remember the good done by the United States in World War II and the Korean War, he said.

"The great reservoir of pro-American good will that has existed in the world since World War II . . . that reservoir is now down very low."

The Vietnam War veteran compared the United States' lack of international support in the Iraq war with what happened in Southeast Asia.

"The one great mistake that America made in those 58 years (since World War II) ... was we tried to do something alone. That was Vietnam," Hagel said.