Gen. Clark Weighs Presidential Bid; Accuses Bush of inaction before 9/11

AP ^ | September 13, 2003 | nwrep

[nwrep]

The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Sept. 13 —

Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, sensing growing support for a Democratic presidential bid, said Saturday he is days away from announcing a decision and launched into an attack on President Bush.

In a half-hour speech to 1,000 cheering Democrats in heavily Republican East Tennessee, Clark said Bush has failed the country on health care, education and foreign policy.

"The No. 1 responsibility of the commander in chief is what? The safety and security of the United States of America," Clark said, questioning the administration's efforts to avoid the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"What happened on 9-11, Mr. President? Why is it that eight months into your administration, why is it that there was no plan to deal with the number one threat that Bill Clinton's national security team warned you about when you took office?"

Clark charged the Bush administration with "obfuscation and slow investigations and memos and shenanigans and creating departments" in response to Sept. 11.

"Let's have some accountability, here," he said, recalling Harry Truman's credo that "The buck stops here."

Clark also challenged the president to explain the administration's strategy on the war in Iraq. "What is the intent, what is the plan, Mr. President? Because the commander in chief better have a plan and we haven't heard it yet."

Clark, 58, who headed the U.S. Southern Command and was NATO commander during the 1999 campaign in Kosovo, said his 34 years in the military taught him, "The highest calling of the armed forces is not to wage war, but to prevent war."

Supporters chanted "Draft, General Clark. Draft, General Clark."

"Now I haven't made up my mind whether I am going to run," Clark, in shirt sleeves, told the crowd. "But I have my jacket off. And you can figure this out."

In an interview earlier with The Associated Press on the front porch of actor David Keith's home, Clark said there was only one decision before him. "And that decision is, do you run for the office of president or do you stay in the private sector?"

Sounding like a candidate, he said without hesitation, "I think I have a tremendous amount to offer this country, a lifetime of public service and leadership."

He said a vice presidential slot is not on his mind, though he won't rule it out.

Clark, whose calendar includes a speech in Iowa Sept. 19, said he will announce his intentions within "the next few days probably," most likely in his home state of Arkansas.

"It just seemed to me if I was going to go to Iowa I probably ought to know what I was doing before I went there," he said.

Al Sharpton, one of nine Democrats already in the race, received a warm greeting in a speech to the Democrat dinner, but it seemed a warm-up to Clark.

Clark's candidacy "would only expand the field" and help the party, Sharpton said later. Clark said he would support Sharpton if the minister wins the nomination and Sharpton said he would do the same for Clark.

"If you can bring the Wesley Clark wing and the Al Sharpton wing of the party out, George Bush doesn't stand a chance," Sharpton said.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Howard Dean's campaign is expanding its much-touted Internet organizing as it heads toward the all-important end of the third quarter fund-raising period.

Campaign manager Joe Trippi outlined the steps Friday that range from the now-familiar Internet-organized monthly meetings via meetup.com to such newer ones as DeanTV and an expanding wireless network.

It has a goal of signing up 450,000 supporters via its Web site by the end of September, 900,000 by December and 2 million by the Democratic National Convention next August.

As of midday Friday, 390,111 people had signed up. Campaign staff said nearly all of them contribute in some form, nearly 40 percent financially and thousands more by organizing events, handing out fliers or gaining more visibility for Dean.

Trippi, while leading reporters through a demonstration of the campaign's redoubled online efforts, told of a group of 80 from Philadelphia who attended a Phillies baseball game wearing their Dean T-shirts. They were welcomed to the game with an announcement on the ballpark's scoreboard. He showed a picture of a similar group in Florida who had done the same thing.

Trippi said the goal is to develop a campaign consisting of concentric circles. The headquarters staff is at the center and networks of loosely organized volunteers across the country are in circles linking with the national team.

The tools include such things as DeanTV, where the candidate gives a pep talk each month to be shown to supporters who meet via the Web site MeetUp.com.

[aruanan]

And helped to incinerate everyone at Waco, getting paid off later by Bill with the above gig.

[aruanan]

He is a strong proponent of a national defense structure that would have avoided the morass that has evolved in Iraq.

Morass. Ha ha ha. This is a perfect example of a sentence that appears to say something but really doesn't because--the problem of the underlying premise notwithstanding--there are so many contingencies involved that the conclusion is merely a wish rather than a certain prognostication of what would have happened.

[DTA]

Gen. Clark's solution for
terrorism?

[Gen. Clark salutes KLA terrorists,an Al Qaeda ally]

Salute terrorists !!!

WESLEY CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
A general only Liberals and his Mom Could Love(c)

[DTA]

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute
the office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my ability, preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States... ..Just like I did in Ft. Hood , Tx in 1993"

WESLEY CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
A general only Liberals and his Mom Could Love(c)

[Ryan Bailey]

Now that General Clark has finally announced his candidacy, can we hope that he will at long last be willing to address his fanciful allegations against our President? General Clark implied very candidly, on CNN, that the Bush Administration specifically asked him to draw a connection between the evil Dictator Sadaam Hussein, and the attacks of 11 September, A.D.2001. He has spent the time since trying to distance himself from these untrue remarks. Undoubtedly, he assumed that his rank would alleviate him from the liability of academic and journalistic honesty. However, he had a rude awakening when he found that there were some honest journalists who were not willing to defer to his rank, especially when it meant spreading treasonous lies about our Commander in Chief, who of course outranks the General. One such honest journalist was Sean Hannity, who in conducting what is probably the single most important interview with the General earlier this season
called him on his high treason.Of course the General could offer no response to Hannity's queries. The attitude of aloofness and royal immunity maintained by General Clark represents perhaps the most perfect example of what Colonel Hackworth referred to as the "Perfumed Prince".
The simple and irrefutable facts remain, that General Clark has repeatedly proved himself dishonest, un-American, and traitorous. He predicted on CNN, upon accepting a position there as a military commentator, that a quick victory in Iraq by our Valiant Coalition Forces was "out of the question", and yet we were militarily victorious in less than a month. His analysis of the military situation, actually not analysis at all but anti-American rhetoric, is a disgrace to every American who has ever worn a uniform. However, when we apply his standard of success to his operations in Kosovo, where he attempted to single-handedly cause World War III, we find that it was not nearly as successful as Operation Iraqi Freedom, which will probably be remembered in history as the greatest military achievement in American history. If the General led a successful military campaign in Kosovo then why are we still involved there, and better yet, why was he fired by the Clinton Administration ? I thank God that he was dismissed by Secretary Cohen after his inhuman war crimes against the civilian population of that country and other misdeeds, which included the now infamous Military Review, a double honor granted to visiting distinguished officers, which he conducted of the Kosovo Liberation Army, an avowed Terrorist Group and alleged ally to Al-Qaeda, see above piece by 'DTA' and my previous column for more on General Clark's incompetence as an officer, suffice it to say that most who have served with him would rather die than do so again.
General Clark has, like President Clinton, been very public about his receipt of the Rhodes Scholarship. This is very frightening to individuals who understand the nature of that particular honor. As for me personally I would rather have hanged for treason than accept the Anti-American Rhodes Scholarship. This particular characteristic frightens me more than any other thing about General Clark and this fear was affirmed in me when upon announcing his candidacy the first reason he gave for choosing the Democratic Party was that it is a party of "Internationalism". Well I wonder what General Washington, or even the so-called 'Democratic' General Andrew Jackson, would say about that. The Rhodes Scholarship was established by Cecil Rhodes for one purpose only; to destroy the United States of America as we know it. This he, Rhodes, intended to execute by recruiting the cream of American Academia, which has never been considered legitimate by British Universities, to the movement of restoring the authority of the British Crown over the whole of North America. In bringing U.S. graduates to Oxford and illuminating them with the superiority of British ways, Rhodes hoped to once and for all stamp out the evil and mongrelizing anathema of democracy and liberty. This plan is actually working very well. Make no mistake about it, people like Clinton and Clark, and all the others in the Rhodes Program, do not simply spend two years in Britain growing beards, women included, and smoking marijuana, they become indoctrinated with the ideals of World Communism and International Globalism.
Finally, General Clark goes too far in implying that our President has sole responsibility for the terror attacks against our nation when it is well documented that it was President Clinton that repeatedly refused to take action against Al-Qaeda following the first attacks on the World Trade Center, among other terrorist attacks seemingly ignored by President Clinton, who did not even bother to visit the attack site. He remarks in his speech; "What happened on 9-11, Mr. President? Why is it that eight months into your administration, why is it that there was no plan to deal with the number one threat that Bill Clinton's national security team warned you about when you took office?" To this I would reply, why is it that Bill Clinton did not respond to the number one threat that his National Security Team warned him about? President Clinton not only gave Al-Qaeda de facto favored status with our government, he actively rewarded Usama bin Laden by preventing other sovereign nations, and our own CIA, from taking actions to apprehend him, technically accessorizing himself to the organization. This should not be allowed to go unnoticed by the media, and I feel President Clinton should be held accountable for his treason in violating his inaugural oath by leaving our nation undefended against terrorism, so much so that even now we have not been able to bring our military back to the strength level it was at when Clinton entered office.
General Clark is not merely an incompetent officer turned political pundit, nor is he merely another Bush-bashing high tax proponent. He is a trained agent of "Internationalism" and world communism. Nevertheless, I still hold to my previous assertion as to his unelectability and I greatly anticipate seeing drop off the radar charts of political history as the American people learn more and more of the truth about his miserable and detestable career.