"...30 some-odd years ago the people of America turned their backs on a just cause, confused and disheartened by sensationalized violence, biased reporting, and good intentions gone awry. They cried for peace and for an end to the killing. They thought that when we left, peace would come, and the killing would stop. But 2.5 million would die from land reforms, murder quotas ordered by the communist leaders, and brutal political oppression. Over a million people would flee the communist oppression and take to the sea, hoping for a better life somewhere else. Hundreds of thousands died at sea. The future the realists had so ominously predicted came to be, and the domino theory proved true enough.

After the Communist Party finished imparting their brutal oppression on the people of Vietnam, and with the west willfully silent, they moved onto Cambodia and Laos, killing 1.5 million people. They then focused their weapons and chains solely on Cambodia, bringing to power the perpetrators of the worst democide the world has ever seen, where 2-3 million Cambodians were murdered...

57,000 Americans lost their lives defending the people of South Vietnam but history has proven their cause just, albeit imperfect. South Vietnam stood alone for two years; with minor material support it could have defended itself indefinitely, just as South Korea has for nearly 50 years. Activists and protesters have been as silent as the 7.5 million murdered by the Vietnamese Communist government and its proxies.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the Vietnam War that is applicable today, it is to not abandon a people in their darkest hour."

SENATOR HAGEL: ... but I would even begin with this evaluation; that we owe the military and their families a policy, a policy worthy of their sacrifices, and I don't believe, Dr. Rice, we have that policy today.

I think what the president said last night -- and I listened carefully and read through it again this morning -- is all about a broadened American involvement, escalation in Iraq and the Middle East. I do not agree with that escalation, and I would further note that when you say, as you have here this morning, that we need to address and help the Iraqis and pay attention to the fact that Iraqis are being killed, Madame Secretary, Iraqis are killing Iraqis. We are in a civil war. This is sectarian violence out of control -- Iraqi on Iraqi. Worse, it is inter-sectarian violence -- Shi'a killing Shi'a.

To ask our young men and women to sacrifice their lives, to be put in the middle of a civil war is wrong.

It's, first of all, in my opinion, morally wrong. It's tactically, strategically, militarily wrong. We will not win a war of attrition in the Middle East.

And I further note that you talk about skepticism and pessimism of the American people and some in Congress. That is not some kind of a subjective analysis, that is because, Madame Secretary, we've been there almost four years, and there's a reason for that skepticism and pessimism, and that is based on the facts on the ground, the reality of the dynamics.

And so I have been one, as you know, who have believed that the appropriate focus is not to escalate, but to try to find a broader incorporation of a framework. And it will have to be, certainly, regional, as many of us have been saying for a long time. That should not be new to anyone. But it has to be more than regional, it is going to have to be internally sponsored, and that's going to include Iran and Syria.

When you were engaging Chairman Biden on this issue, on the specific question -- will our troops go into Iran or Syria in pursuit, based on what the president said last night -- you cannot sit here today -- not because you're dishonest or you don't understand, but no one in our government can sit here today and tell Americans that we won't engage the Iranians and the Syrians cross-border.

Some of us remember 1970, Madame Secretary, and that was Cambodia, and when our government lied to the American people and said we didn't cross the border going into Cambodia. In fact we did. I happen to know something about that, as do some on this committee.

So, Madame Secretary, when you set in motion the kind of policy that the president is talking about here, it's very, very dangerous. Matter of fact, I have to say, Madame Secretary, that I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out. I will resist it.

Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel (born October 4, 1946) is the senior United States Senator from Nebraska. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. He is a Vietnam War veteran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel