it has become more hostile since. the temperature is much lower in these hearings than the conversation has been in the country. i think chuck hagel has done the administration a favor by coming in with a balanced approach. >> it doesn't hurt he's a republican. >> it doesn't hurt. it would have helped if he had been the point man from the get-go and not had the celebration in the rose garden. >> speaking of point man, i think it's important to point out, pardon the pun, that he said emphatically, i didn't make this decision. the president did. there was some thought within the last 48 hours that it wasn't the president that signed off on this operation, that it was chuck hagel. i think that was a mistake made in their briefing. >> that may be. on the belligerence, i'm not sur what the legal significance is of that. >> enemy combatants has been a convenient term for nejer world