Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that sequestration cuts to the military are unwise at this time. Naturally, he blamed “political gridlock in Washington” for that and not the president who came up with sequestration as a carrot and a stick to use against Republicans. But Hagel also stumbled unintentionally into a bit of truth, saying, “History informs us that allowing our military strength to weaken when coming out of a war is always, always a costly mistake, especially costly like today when there is no obvious peace dividend.” We say unintentionally because we doubt he meant to blame his boss, though that’s who bears it. There is “no obvious peace dividend” because Barack Obama irresponsibly ended both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan based on political calculations rather than national security considerations. Every bad actor in the world took notice.