HAGEL IS EXACTLY THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

Chuck Hagel has committed unpardonable sins. He has violated the GOP commandment -- popularized by Ronald Reagan -- against criticizing his fellow partisans. Worse yet, in the eyes of those partisans, he has castigated the warmongering imperialists who dragged the nation into a disastrous invasion of Iraq.Recipient of two Purple Hearts as an enlisted man in Vietnam, Hagel came back from that war