March 10, 2013: Our readers write

Hagel a strong choice

Chuck Hagel was finally confirmed as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense, as he should have been since Obama won the election — decisively.

Obama and Hagel think similarly on defense issues and Hagel knows first-hand the horrors of war. He would do everything he could to keep America from going to war, unlike the neo-conservatives of the George W. Bush administration who with malice aforethought took America to a costly war in Iraq unnecessarily.

As senators, Obama and Hagel expressed opposition to going to war in Iraq. As Secretary of Defense, Hagel would help cut unnecessary, wasteful defense spending and view going to war as a last resort. That’s the kind of defense secretary we need.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr.
Louisville