Republican Senator Rips Bush on Iraq Strategy: "Chuck Hagel, an influential moderate Republican from Nebraska, sharply criticized the Bush administration in an interview here Tuesday, saying that the war in Iraq appears to have hurt America in its battle against terrorism.
Hagel, a politician sometimes mentioned as a future presidential contender, also said the United States is going to have to consider restarting the draft to maintain its many military commitments abroad.
In a sharp critique of the leader of his own party, Hagel said he believes the occupation of Iraq by the American military was poorly planned and has spread terrorist cells more widely around the world.
'This put in motion a new geographic dispersion' of the terrorists, said Hagel, 58, in an interview before delivering a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. 'It's harder to deal with them because they're not as contained. Iraq has become a training ground.'
He added that although it is too soon to judge how the war in Iraq will ultimately influence the war on terror, in the short term it has created more terrorists and given them more targets -- American soldiers. "
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