Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, co-authored a 2009 report that called for US troops to lead a peacekeeping force that would patrol the future borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.

The report, referenced Saturday by Israel National News, also suggested that peace could be imposed from outside by the US, describing arguments to the contrary as "invalid."

The report, co-authored by Hagel with Carter administration Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski, and former George H.W. Bush adviser Brent Scowcroft, among others, was produced in an effort to influence Obama administration policy in the president's first term. It called upon the new president to make resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a top priority "early in his presidency" and to override "certain domestic constituencies."

The report called for the US military to be deployed as part of its suggested plan for peace:

"A non-militarized Palestinian state, together with security mechanisms that address Israeli concerns while respecting Palestinian sovereignty, and a US- led multinational force to ensure a peaceful transitional security period. This coalition peacekeeping structure, under UN mandate, would feature American leadership of a NATO force supplemented by Jordanians, Egyptians and Israelis. We can envision a five-year, renewable mandate with the objective of achieving full Palestinian domination of security affairs on the Palestine side of the line within 15 years."

In addition, the report called for the US to encourage Israeli-Syrian negotiations, and to take a "more pragmatic approach" to the Hamas terror organization in control of Gaza.

Hagel would not be the first Obama administration official to advocate the deployment of US troops to the area. In 2002, Obama adviser Samantha Power called for the US to provide "a "meaningful military presence" in the "new state of Palestine" to carry out the "imposition of a solution on unwilling parties." Like Hagel, she suggested that doing so meant "alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import"--an apparent reference to American Jews, making use of Jewish stereotypes seen as offensive in some contexts.

The 2009 report was released by the US/Middle East Project (USMEP), on whose board Hagel serves. The president of USMEP, Henry Siegman, recently attacked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for questioning Hagel's comments about the "Jewish lobby," writing: "[T]here could be no better and conclusive evidence of the Israel Lobby's power of intimidation of US senators on the subject of Israel than these hearings themselves."

READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 02/24/2013