Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Western nations must further engage and understand Middle Eastern leaders and countries in order to avoid the misguided policies and harmful prejudices that have guided the war in Iraq, argues Republican Senator Chuck Hagel.

Hagel presented his views before an audience of Georgetown students, faculty and other guests at a lecture hosted by the School of Foreign Service's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in Riggs Library on September 22. Touching on themes from his new book, Senator Hagel condemned the war in Iraq and what he described as a “reckless” foreign policy on the part of the Bush Administration, advocating immediate and broad change to the U.S. role in the Middle East. “We are—everyone in the world—affected by what happens every day in the region,” Hagel argued, “and the Middle East is more combustible today than ever before.” He believes that real peace will only be possible with further engagement of the entire region—including Iran and Syria.

We need to apply 21st century solutions to these 21st century problems

Hagel ended his talk with a call for change this November, saying that America “needs a wise course of action and a wise foreign policy…the next President will inherit an inventory of problems more complicated than even what FDR encountered.” The Senator cautioned against isolationism and irrelevancy, arguing that U.S. policy needs to be changed to reflect the realities of available resources and the state of international affairs today. “Yesterday’s gone—we can’t do anything about that—but we must not squander the next four years."

Chuck Hagel first won election to the Senate in 1996. Reelected by an overwhelming margin in 2002, he has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq War and the foreign policy of the Bush Administration. In September 2007, he announced he would not seek a third term in the Senate.

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, part of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, is the only academic center in the United States focusing solely on the Arab world.