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Posted on 10/03/2003 9:00:28 AM PDT by alternatediscourse
Perfumed Prince I don't know Gen. Wesley Clark, but I have a good friend who does. My friend is, like Clark, a career Army officer who has retired. Essentially, my friend says that Clark is "the last guy in the world you want to see in the White House." He describes him as a "perfumed prince" who is so conceited he never admits he's wrong and treats subordinates like dirt. My friend, I should make clear, was never a subordinate of the general, so this is not a case of sour grapes. I'm sure you can find others who know Clark and love him. Such is human nature. Clark is being described as "the victor of Kosovo." Actually, he was in charge of a debacle. When President Clinton decided to make war on Yugoslavia, Gen. Clark, then chief of NATO, devised an air campaign in which the planes were not allowed below 15,000 feet. That could have been Clinton's fault. We don't know. Nevertheless, the bombing killed quite a few hundred innocent civilians, including Kosovars we were supposedly trying to save. It did not, however, do much damage to the Serbian armed forces, which simply hunkered down in the wooded mountains and spread canvas dummies for American planes to bomb. This became evident after the hostilities ceased, when the Serb forces left Kosovo practically intact. Furthermore, the Russians saved Clark from his own folly. Clark was itching to get ground forces into Kosovo. If they had gone in, the Serbs would have been ready for them, having escaped from any damage by the high-altitude bombing. Fortunately for the lives of the soldiers and the general's reputation, the Russians negotiated a deal with Slobodan Milosevic that stopped the conflict. Then the general made another boo-boo. When he discovered Russian troops were coming into the airport in Kosovo to be part of the peacekeeping force, he ordered a British general to stop them from landing. The British general openly defied him and refused to obey the order. "I'm not going to start World War III for you," he told Clark. Not long afterward, the Clinton administration suggested that Clark retire earlier than he had planned to. He has described that as one of the two worst days of his life, the other being the day he was shot up pretty badly in Vietnam. All of the above is in the historical record, and you can check it for yourself. Already, it's being distorted by campaign rhetoric and commentary. One neoconservative female dunce, acting as a junkyard dog for the Republicans, complained that it was inconsistent of Clark to have supported the war in Yugoslavia and opposed the war in Iraq. This is a perfect illustration of the ignorance so often displayed on television. Simply put, Clark was on active duty and not free to complain about the Yugoslav war. When the Iraq war came up, he was retired and free to express his opinion. Most people who are not morons understand that active-duty officers do not have the privilege of arguing with the commander in chief. Whether he approved of the war or not, I don't know, since as the commander of NATO forces the decision was not his to make, nor could he have protested without first resigning. Clark, because of name recognition, has jumped in the polls, but I don't expect him to hold up very well as a candidate. Generals are used to being catered to and obeyed and never questioned. I don't think a political campaign will sit too well with him. Whether he's worthy of a vote, we'll just have to wait and see what he has to say. So far we know nothing of his positions on various issues. Unless the general can convince me otherwise, I think I'll take my friend's advice and not vote for him. I'm not a fan of princes, perfumed or otherwise. |
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Furthermore, the perfumed Prince may be dumb as rocks, but he is not dumb enough to be in a situation where his death would be all that is needed to make Hillary Clinton POTUS.
Anybody who wants to be president and have Hillary as his VP is certifiable.
And them maybe Clark will have a 'Foster' moment in the park. The gleeful grieving VP will then take the presidential oath and possibly get 11 years or so to rule the rest of us.
Correct. And in fact, he was initially enthusiastic about Bush being elected, but began to change his mind after Bush's hard-to-port.
11 years? Hell, if Shrillery was President, the Second American Revolution would break out before she could finish her first term.
And dead.
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