Ted Cruz Stuns Hagel With Al Jazeera 'Bully' Bite

Ted Cruz Stuns Hagel With Al Jazeera 'Bully' Bite


Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) confronted former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel with a clip from his 2009 interview with Al Jazeera during today's Defense Secretary confirmation hearing.

The Secretary of Defense nominee can be heard agreeing with a caller's assertion that the United States is the "world's bully."

SENATOR CRUZ: Well let’s look at another excerpt from the same interview if we can play the second excerpt.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT: “We’ve got an email from Wendy Day she writes to us from Georgia here in the United States -- and she writes ‘can the rest of the world be persuaded to give up their arsenal when the image of the United States is that of the world’s bullying, don’t we indeed need to change the perception and the reality before asking folks to lay down their arms, nuclear or otherwise?’ (Hagel): Well her observation is a good one and it’s relevant. Yes, to her question.”
CRUZ: Senator Hagel do you think it’s appropriate for the Chief Civilian Leader of the U.S. Military Forces to agree to this statement that both the “perception and reality” is that the U.S. is “the world’s bully.”

HAGEL: I didn’t hear her say that by the way, the United States, and I think my comment was it’s irrelevant in good observation -- I don’t think I said I agreed with it.

CRUZ: With respect the record speaks for itself it was in writing that she said that the U.S. is the world's bully, that it is the "reality" and your response -- you did say that you agree with it, you said you her observation is a good one, its relevant, "yes to her question."

You explicitly agreed with the characterization of the United States as the world's bully and I would suggest that’s not a characterization that -- I think that the United States has spilled more blood, more treasure, standing for freedom, liberating people across the world and to go on Al Jazeera, a foreign network, broadcasting propaganda to nations that are hostile to us and to explicitly agree with the characterization of the United States as the world's bully, I would suggest is not the conduct one would expect of a Secretary of Defense.

HAGEL: Senator, she said that was an observation

CRUZ: I will point out that her quote was, "The perception and the reality," and with that my time is expired. I look forward to a second round.

Here is the clip of Hagel's appearance on The Riz Kahn Show, Al Jazeera, March 21, 2009:
Ted Cruz Stuns Hagel With Al Jazeera 'Bully' Bite | Chuck Hagel | Fox Nation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=aoZRPY8oXRg