Gen. Clark: Saddam Not a Criminal

NewsMax.com ^ | 9/21/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

In a little noticed interview with Fortune Magazine last week, presidential frontrunner Gen. Wesley Clark defended Saddam Hussein against charges that he was engaged in crimes against his own people at the time the Iraq war started, contending instead that the Iraqi dictator should have gotten a pass because his atrocities took place ten years ago.

Asked why it was right for President Clinton to use military force to halt Slobodan Milosevic's crimes against humanity in Kosovo, but not for President Bush to do the same thing against Saddam, Clark said that in Iraq, "The imminence of stopping a guy from committing a crime in progress - it wasn't there."

"In Kosovo you had ethnic cleansing actually unfolding, and we had intervened to stop it," the ex-NATO commander insisted, without commenting on the torture chambers, rape rooms and mass graves discovered in Iraq by coalition forces.

Instead, the Democratic frontrunner suggested that the Iraqi dictator deserved a pass by outlining what Fortune described as Clark's "Statute of Limitations for Genocidal Thugs."

"It was ten years ago that Saddam brutalized the Shiite Muslims in the south," he argued. "And he used chemical weapons 15 years ago."

Instead, said the retired military man, Saddam brutality was really no worse than crimes committed by leaders in China more than a decade ago, telling Fortune:

"We still deal with communist China, right? During the Cultural Revolution they had cannibalism in China. And the same guys that ran over the students in Tiananmen, they're still there."

Fortune writer Bill Powell pointed out, however, that while China is still a police state, "the recently departed General Secretary Jiang Zemin, to take but one example, was promoted from mayor of Shanghai to succeed Deng Xiaoping in part because he avoided bloodshed during Tiananmen. . . . Have you ever heard of Saddam promoting someone because he avoided killing somebody?"

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

2004 Elections
Saddam Hussein/Iraq

[Republic]

What a great post and what a marvelous Christain perspective. I, too, think our Father won't stand by forever and allow this confusion, this subterfuge (sp-? lol) to continue. I ask our Father to open all of our eyes and ears to the truth, to help us as a people to cut through the propaganda and distortions, especially when delivered from those in power who purposefully distort.

I truly believe He is lending His grace in this direction-there is a moving backlash against the lies laid upon this nation by those agenda laden creeps wanting to bend fact into their vision of what America should be.

[loudmouths]

Is he presidential material?

As for the unsavory comments; they have been stated long before he ever thought of entering the presidential race.

As for he being a military leader; if his leadership capabilities are represented by bombing "fake" Serbian tanks, his resume is not beyond reproach.

One would ask why would companies like Wave Crest seek his abilities other than he can function as a lobbyist with a CEO credential.

[loudmouths]

http://mujweb.atlas.cz/www/kutija/nw000515.htm

"The Air Force protested that tanks are hard to hit from 15,000 feet, but Clark insisted. Now that the war is long over, neither the generals nor their civilian masters are eager to delve into what really happened. Asked how many Serb tanks and other vehicles were destroyed in Kosovo, General Clark will only answer, "Enough."'

[JasonC]

Brilliant...

[Fledermaus]

This proves Clark is a Democrat for sure since all Democrats LOVE murderous dictators.

[Chantal]

This proves Clark is a Democrat for sure since all Democrats
LOVE murderous dictators.

All of a sudden Dan Rather & Fidel Castro comes to mind,
another murderous dictator.
Clark is on an ego trip, can't you tell? As long as he
has an audience, he'll spew anything....I wish he'd go away.

[Marysecretary]

God truly loves us. His grace has been upon this nation and will continue to be, but if we don't turn our hearts back to Him, judgement will come and it won't be pretty. I think we're in for some rough times but because I've put my faith and trust in Him, He'll see me through it, as He will anyone who loves and trusts Him. His glory is going to shine upon our land. I just know it will. He's not done with us yet. Love, Mxxx