The General: Did Clark Fail to Salute? (Clarks NATO Firing)

Newsweek ^ | Feb 2, 2004 | Evan Thomas and T. Trent Gegax

[XHogPilot]

Wes Clark won a war, but ran afoul of his Pentagon masters and lost his job. (snip)

Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that Clark had been sacked as commander of NATO forces after the 1999 Balkans war because of "integrity and character issues." (snip)

What really happened? According to a knowledgeable source, Clark ran afoul of Cohen and Shelton by being less than totally forthcoming in morning conference calls during the Kosovo war in the spring of 1999. From his NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clark wanted to wage the war more aggressively, but back in the Pentagon, Cohen and Shelton were more cautious. They would give Clark instructions on, for instance, the scale of the bombing campaign. "Clark would say, 'Uh-huh, gotcha'," says NEWSWEEK's source. But then he would pick up the phone and call [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair and [Secretary of State] Madeleine [Albright]." As Clark knew full well, Blair and Albright were more hawkish than Shelton and Cohen. After talking to the State Department and NATO allies, Clark would have a different set of marching orders, says the source, who has spoken about the matter with both Cohen and Clark. "Then, about 1 o'clock, the Defense Department would hear what Clark was up to, and Cohen and Shelton would be furious (snip)

[Cautor]

Idaho5412... Since Jan 25, 2004--Bipolar Bob: Hey I resemble that remark.

With a name like Bipolar Bob, I take it you're a fan of the General?

[optimistically_conservative]

"I don't think so, potato breath."

Ahhhh, too bad, you forgot the "e" at the end.

[cake_crumb]

"Idaho5412, we hardly knew ye....."

...And we don't miss ye, either. Name calling...issues...what a low quality of troll we're atracting now. Sometimes I miss MurryMom.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Wearing that particular hat, it looks like Weasely has joined the French Foreign Lesion(yes, I know how it's spelled).

[leadpenny]

LOL! Tell us YOU'RE here to stay!

[cake_crumb]

"Are you kidding about that Newsweak poll? I had heard about and CNN and MSNBC has been repeating that poll over and over again."

No, I'm not kidding. I suspected it was somehow rigged just because it's so far out of line with other recent polls when I read it first thing this morning. Then I heard it was a New Hampshire poll later in the morning, and then heard them report it on Fox.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Clinton, Albright, Cohen, Clark. All corrupt as the day is long. Clinton ran his administration like an organized crime syndicate. If you weren't curropt, he had no use for you. Of course, you didn't want to be smarter than the Capo. You could end up in clump of bushes in Ft. Marcy Park, or crashing into a mountain top in South America with a large caliber bullet hole in your skull.

[libstripper]

All ranks are supposed to salute and return salutes; it's a matter of mutual respect and courtesy. The best example is President Bush, who always returns the Marine guard's salute when he boards or leaves Marine One. For a commander not to return a subordinate's salute is boorish, grosly improper military conduct. A general who fails to return a private's salute is a pig in uniform.

[cake_crumb]

"Didn't realize there were other freepers who felt as I do about the war in Yugolslavia and our siding with the islamic fundamentalists"

There are plenty of us.

[af_vet_1981]

The issue is not an issue of "who" his bosses were, but rather an issue of being a straight shooter. Apparently, Clark didn't level with Shelton. One of the 4 c's critical to any military career is CANDOR. (Courage, Competence, Commitment being the other 3.) These are drummed into every soldier, and especially into leaders.

Well said, worth a bump to repeat

[SandRat]

For being first in his class at West Point, Wesley can't be too smart.

My platoon sergeant in basic used to say "jess be kass ya got a colleege edgeemacation don't mean ya's smart."

Turned out with no H.S. diploma or a GED he was the smartest man around because he understood what is right and what is wrong and there was NO middle ground in these matters.

Far too many top enders from Hudson High would not be viewed very favorably by my old platoon sergeant from basic and Generalissimo Clark is one in that category.

[stands2reason]

LOL--- word picture....

[Casloy]

Awww, gross. THe word orgasm and Albright in the same sentence. Can't get that image out of my brain. acchhhhh.

Never forget Madelaine Albright after the Embassy bombings in Africa. She came out all puffed up and announced to the press in reference to the terrorists "they can run, but they can't hide." Well, apparently during the Clinton administration they not only didn't have to hide, they didn't even have to run!!!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Idaho5412

RIP January 25, 2004

[XHogPilot]

Didn't realize there were other freepers who felt as I do about the war in Yugolslavia

Actually it seems to be a very dividing issue. You'll find a full spectrum of very strong opinions by searching FR for any of these: for any of these "Kosovo" "Serbia" "Milosevic".

[cake_crumb]

She said that?? Not surprising. I remember her bragging about how they armed the Muslims trying to turn Bosnia into Greater Albania, and taught them all about "Democracy". She considered this a great acheivement. Of course, she also says we won that war.

[OldFriend]

My son was in the military at the time. He was slated to go in and prepare for the peacekeepers that Milosevich ultimately refused. Altho it would have been a very dangerous mission for him, we were heartsick that the decision had been made to bomb.

He did not have to be deployed from his base in Germany, but it was very difficult to stomach the failure of diplomacy .

[OldFriend]

See my post #98

[cake_crumb]

Read it. God bless your son and I'm very glad he wasn't forced to participate in the Kosovo fiasco.