Chuck Hagel stresses again that the recent tensions in the Middle-east, especially the civil war in Syria and the Irani Nuclear ambitions that need to be tackled to restore peace and order in the region, do not require military solutions, but democratic and political ones.
“The old order is coming to an end,” The US Secretary of Defence said. The US should support and promote democracy in the region and to encourage democratic reform, the US must keep in mind its limitations of power.
While plans of military actions being launched against Syria or Iran are not scrapped yet, Washington still believes that to launch a fully armed battalion against the volatile political environment in the region may not be the best course of action available to the US. President Barack Obama who believes in a more cautious, non-lethal approach.
Hagel said further that the answer to the on-going threat by the Al-Qaeda, Iran’s nuclear challenge and the Syrian political instability was not to resort to violence and military action but to approach these situations by making coalitions of common interests with Israel and other allies of the US present in the region.
Hagel said at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that it appeared that the common issue of crisis, at the Middle East that has arisen, would find its most enduring and effective solution in a political one and not a military one.
As of yet, he has confirmed that America believes its role in the Middle East to be that of provision of diplomatic, humanitarian, intelligence, economic and security tools for their allies, and any nation that needs help to shape the future events, and to influence the course of the future.
The political landscape in the Middle East region was thoroughly shaken by the Arab uprisings, Hagel said.
The ancient order of the Middle East is on the verge of disappearing, and what political or social order will take place, remains yet to be seen.
As with any social and political reform, it is almost self-evident that a great period of much unrest and instability will precede the actual reform, and every one that is an onlooker must act accordingly and responsibly, he said.
Hagel, who travelled through the Middle East region last month, assured that the political transition in each of Syria, Libya, and Egypt would actually be the determining factor in the long term prospects of stability in the region.
If Egypt, Syria and Libya make a reasonably peaceful transition into democratic rule, therein lies the best hope of stability in the region, Hagel proclaimed.
He said that the US would practice caution but would remain involved in shaping the course of events of the region at all times. It would be wise for the nation not to rush into the state of affairs.
Much understanding of the region and self-realization of the US government has to take place before taking any major action. They must explore and segregate carefully what are their interests and limitations in the region. They must have an innate and full understanding of the complexities in this region that is full of hope, yet full of unpredictable contradictions, as well.
The war in Syria was increasingly becoming a war that was between people from different sects of the society. There was an increasingly higher possibility that the state would undergo segregation, he claimed.
Syria’s load of chemical weapons and advanced conventional weapons were being put at risk by the looming war in the horizon. There is an increasing chance of the domestic violence to spill across Syria’s borders and into neighboring countries.
However, Hagel did not repeat Obama’s red line declaration to Damascus regarding the use of chemical weapons in the warfare, but used a restrained tone to address Syria instead.
There were renewed calls on the US to intervene in the civil war of Syria after the US intelligence claimed that Syria was probably using chemical weapons on a small scale already. The White House claims that the matter is under investigation.
Hagel said that the administration was being very careful this time as it was not ready to repeat an intelligence blunder like that which took place in the Iraqi war of 2003.
He said that the US was wiser now and that they accepted there would always be consequences to any action that was taken, and some of them may be unintended. He also added that even inaction had consequences.
Hagel joked about his outspoken manner of discourse that he used to carry before he took over the job at Pentagon, when answering the question on Syria. He mentioned that he was no longer a senator and no longer enjoyed the luxury of speaking as he would like to speak, but had to measure out his words more carefully.
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