Posted on 09/17/2003 8:12:48 AM PDT by jmstein7
True in principle, but we're in the concrete. Dims want to forget 9/11, but they can't. They want some messianic figure to assure them they are safe because, beneath all their pacifist "root-cause" and "live&let-live" pronouncements is fear. Also, Clarke is a UN'er, which still appeals to the dreams and aspirations of the college edicated sheeple; they'll overlook any bloodletting in the face of this. That's the pschizophrenic character of the dim base, they talk peace, but like the kind of people who don't mind "breaking eggs to make an omelet" ie, Castro, Lenin, Mao and the like.
The dim aspirants are jokes, and even the dim hard core realizes this. Clarke cuts an impressive figure next to this crowd; most will go away in exchange for a few bucks and a fancy title. This smells like Clinton's work, but the question is will Clinton retain his position if Clarke gets the upper hand?
We live in interesting times, to say the least.
The democrats have NOTHING to be afraid OF... the elected republicans are mostly cowards.. their afraid of being called "MEAN SPIRITED"...
I say Ann Coulter for President and Tancredo for Vice Prez... turn some light on in this kitchen and watch the roaches scramble for cover.... Just the debates and tv COMMERIALS WOULD BE WORTH IT ALONE... Certain words will galvanize Americans... TRAITORS, SOCIALISTS, SEDITION, CHILD MOLESTERS( for the democrats have surely molested every child in America) for decades....
Clark is a dangerous man.
Confrontation over Pristina airport
Nato was taken aback by the Russians' arrival.
Details of Russia's surprise occupation of Pristina airport at the end of the Kosovo war are revealed in a new BBC documentary on the conflict.
For the first time, the key players in the tense confrontation between Nato and Russian troops talk about the stand-off which jeopardised the entire peacekeeping mission.
The Russians, who played a crucial role in persuading Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end the war, had expected to police their own sector of Kosovo, independent of Nato.
When they did not get it, they felt double-crossed.
As Nato's K-For peacekeepers prepared to enter the province on 12 June, they discovered the Russians had got there first.
A contingent of 200 troops, stationed in Bosnia, was already rolling towards Pristina airport.
'Third World War'
General Wesley Clark, Nato's supreme commander, immediately ordered 500 British and French paratroopers to be put on standby to occupy the airport.
''I called the [Nato] Secretary General [Javier Solana] and told him what the circumstances were,'' General Clark tells the BBC programme Moral Combat: Nato at War.
''He talked about what the risks were and what might happen if the Russian's got there first, and he said: 'Of course you have to get to the airport'.
General Jackson: Backed by UK Government
''I said: 'Do you consider I have the authority to do so?' He said: 'Of course you do, you have transfer of authority'.''
But General Clark's plan was blocked by General Sir Mike Jackson, K-For's British commander.
"I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," he reportedly told General Clark during one heated exchange.
General Jackson tells the BBC: ''We were [looking at] a possibility....of confrontation with the Russian contingent which seemed to me probably not the right way to start off a relationship with Russians who were going to become part of my command.''
Russian plans
The Russian advance party took the airport unopposed. The world watched nervously.
A senior Russian officer, General Leonid Ivashev, tells the BBC how the Russians had plans to fly in thousands of troops.
''Let's just say that we had several airbases ready. We had battalions of paratroopers ready to leave within two hours,'' he said.
Amid fears that Russian aircraft were heading for Pristina, General Clark planned to order British tanks and armoured cars to block the runways to prevent any transport planes from landing.
General Clark said he believed it was ''an appropriate course of action''. But the plan was again vetoed by Britain.
Partition fears
Instead, he asked neighbouring countries, including Hungary and Romania not to allow Russian aircraft to overfly their territory.
Russians are not under direct Nato command
During the stand-off, Moscow insisted its troops would be answerable only to its own commanders.
Nato refused to accept this, predicting it would lead to the partition of Kosovo into an ethnic Albanian south and a Serbian north.
A deal on the deployment of Russian peacekeepers was reached in early July.
The Russians now operate as part of K-For in sectors controlled by Nato states, but are not directly under Nato's command.
Egads, after Weasley announced I haven't seen that much slobbering from the talking heads since my children were teething. ick!
Whenever referring to the Russians, Clark repeatedly referred to them as the "Soviets," and didn't seem to understand that they were [ostensibly] working with NATO. His conversations always gave the impression that he had no clue that the Cold War ever ended.
We had indications that the Russians may decide that they wanted their own piece of land to administer. They've historically always supported their "Slav brethren" in the Balkans, and desperately want to be seen as a player on the world stage again.
So when Wesley received word that it looked like the Russians might move from their area in Bosnia, and head for Kosovo, he ordered this liaison officer, "Don't allow the Soviets to leave their compound."
So the liaison officer went to see the Russian Brigade Commander, and passed on Clark's desire that the Russians not leave. The Commander answered something to the effect that Russia will do what it thinks it needs to in the region, and that he would follow the orders of his superiors.
When this was passed along to Clark, he went nuts. Clark berated the liaison officer, and said that it was the officer's duty not to allow the Russians to leave their compound!
When the officer told Clark that the Russians were already lining up their combat vehicles he really started bouncing off the walls. The officer asked Clark how he expected the Brigade to be stopped by only one person armed with a 9mm pistol. Clark said, "I don't care what you have to do, just don't let them leave their compound."
At that point the Russians were already lined up in a column that stretched though the gates of their compound. Upon hearing this Clark mentioned a bridge that they'd have to cross shortly after leaving the compound, and told the liaison officer to do "whatever it takes to keep the Soviets from crossing that bridge!"
This one episode is the tip of the iceberg. I'v heard a great many stories from people who have worked directly for Clark, and the guy is power-crazy and dangerous.
And don't believe the stories about how "smart" he is. Surely you've known someone who gets straight "A's" without hardly trying, yet has no common sense. That's Wes Clark.
Don't believe me? Read his book [Waging Modern War]. Knowing the inside story before reading it really helped me see his character, but there's enough there for anyone to see what a moron Clark truely is.
Here's one example: I've read a great many books by senior officers. What do the good ones always mention? --Their staffs. They realize that they are successful because of how good their staff is, and how they as a leader interface with that staff. How many times does Wesley even mention his staff throughout the book? --NEVER. But he points out how great he is by making important decisions with no help all the time.
1982. Do you remember the USMC Captain who stopped an Israeli tank column with his .45, standing in their way and preventing them from moving up some long forgotten line of advance around Beirut? (He later quit the military over gays or women.) He was kind of kooky perhaps, and THAT time, he got away with it, acting unilaterally.
Imagine if the USA liason with the Russians had been a similar Dudley Do-Or-Die, when Clark had made the call to halt the Russian column. I wonder if the Ivans would have (I hope) just thrown a net over him before they moved out?
Sooner or later, Clark's get a nutty subordinate to carry out an insane plan, and havoc can result.
That's why Clark should NEVER get control of the nuclear football.
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BTW, your post deserves its own thread.
Yes.
After the rapist-traitor was re-elected in 1996, such a thing is not only possible but probable.
As for a separate thread, you're right; and I've made it so.
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