of politics and war (hit piece on clark)

[katusha]

Of politics and war
Different war, different Wes Clark

DOING HIS bit to demoralize the troops, retired General Wesley Clark has gone after the commander-in-chief again. He may be a retired general but he's still an active pol, so he got to give the Democrats' response to the president's weekly radio address last Saturday. And he used the time to say that George W. Bush has "made mistake after mistake as commander-inchief, taking us into a war we didn't have to wage, alone and under false pretenses, and is now managing it poorly."
Similar charges could have been made, and were, against another war waged without the support of the United Nations--the one against Serbia not long ago.
Then, too, mistake after mistake was made. As mistakes will be made in any war. And when it's a war being waged from 10,000 feet, mistakes are almost inevitable, like the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade or the attack on a busload of innocent civilians who had the bad luck to be crossing the wrong bridge at the wrong time.
Some philosophers who specialize in the ethics of war, just and unjust, even asserted that the whole effort was morally dubious because the war was fought from the air rather than by using ground troops, who could more easily avoid civilian targets.
It was even said there would have been no mass expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo, complete with the usual massacres, if America and its allies hadn't launched their war against Serbia's dictator.
We were also assured that Slobodan Milosovic could have been safely contained without war. (Sound familiar?) And his crimes, too, were largely ignored by those opposed to that war, just as Saddam Hussein's aren't much talked about by today's anti-war critics.
Talk about déjà vu: Then, too, we were told that America was waging a war under false pretenses and without sufficient international support. (Although we can't remember a four-star general going on national radio to make such charges.) Some of the more partisan members of Congress even refused to vote for funds to support the war against Serbia, just as some congressmen--notably Arkansas' own Marion Berry--have voted against the appropriations needed to support this war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And yet the commander in charge of that earlier operation in the Balkans--a general named Wesley Clark--would later cite that campaign as a great victory for human rights. And it was. He persevered, and so did America. Just as we shall in Iraq. Despite those who, in the darkest hours of this struggle, are doing their bit to discredit the whole effort.

This story was published Saturday, May 15, 2004

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"a general named Wesley Clark--would later cite that campaign as a great victory for human rights. And it was. He persevered, and so did America."

this alone gives clark the right to critique the current fiasco.


Then-GOP Presidential candidate Governor George W. Bush: According to the Houston Chronicle:"Bush, in Austin, criticized President Clinton's administration for not doing enough to enunciate a goalfor the Kosovo military action and indicated the bombing campaign might not be a tough enoughresponse. `Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exitstrategy is,' Bush said."

So Bush can critique the war and it is ok, but clark does it and he is "demoralizing the troops"

as far as discreditting this whole effort, it reminds of that joke "does this dress make me look fat?" "no being fat makes you look fat". a few words from a retired general are not discreting this effort, LOSING is what is discreditting the effort.

"We were also assured that Slobodan Milosovic could have been safely contained without war. (Sound familiar?) And his crimes, too, were largely ignored by those opposed to that war, just as Saddam Hussein's aren't much talked about by today's anti-war critics.
Talk about déjà vu: Then, too, we were told that America was waging a war under false pretenses and without sufficient international support. (Although we can't remember a four-star general going on national radio to make such charges.) Some of the more partisan members of Congress even refused to vote for funds to support the war against Serbia..."

Just who were these people that assured, ignored, told, and refused to vote on funds? Could it have been........REPUBLICANS?


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Then-GOP Presidential candidate Dan Quayle: "What has happened is we have taken a political crisisand a humanitarian crisis and escalated it into a full military crisis. The handling of the situation in theBalkans reflects the inattention of the Clinton Administration to foreign policy. ... You have the same situation . Ambiguity, no stated, clear cut mission and then you are going to have to be there quite some time."

Then-GOP Presidential candidate Lamar Alexander: "Once we've started bombing we should bomb aggressively and consistently and for a long time to try and bring Milosevic to the table. But the president needs to tell us the rest of the story. Which is that if we put peace-keeping American forces in Kosovo they are going to be there for a long time, maybe as long as they have been in Korea, 25 to 50 years; and if they are harmed as they were in Somalia, then we are going to put other forces in there to make sure that they are safe."

Then-GOP Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan: "And what are we doing bombing and attacking this tiny country that has never attacked the United States to rip away from them a province that does not belong to us? I believe it is an unjust war. I think we have failed in our strategic objectives, and it is now becoming basically no longer a war for Kosovo but a war to save NATO's credibility and NATO's face. And that does not justify sending in an army of 100,000 American ground troops into the Balkans."

Then-GOP Presidential candidate Gary Bauer: "The President has not demonstrated he's got a way to solve a crisis or conflict that literally has been raging since 1350. ... They treated each other with an incredible amount of inhumanity. That's a terrible thing. It offends our conscience. But how in the world are American boys flying over Kosovo dropping bombs going to somehow stop something that's been going on for 600 years?"

GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL): "Many may question the path that has taken us to this point. I have my own questions about the long term strategy of this campaign."

Then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX): "Mr. Speaker, this is a very difficult speech for me to give, because I normally, and I still do, support our military and the fine work that they are doing. But I cannot support a failed foreign policy. ... But before we get deeper embroiled into this Balkan quagmire, I think that an assessment has to be made of the Kosovo policy so far. President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the U.S. military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military/foreign policy precedent. ... Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing."

Then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX): The deployment of U.S. military forces in Kosovo is "just another bad idea in a foreign policy without a focus."

Then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX): "America needs to quickly change directions and leave behind this chilling comedy of errors that has defined our foreign policy."

Then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX): "First of all, it's using NATO for the first time to attack a sovereign nation. ... It's also one more adventure in a whole line of adventures of failed foreign policy." <"Fox News Sunday," 3/14/99>

Then-House Majority Whip Tom Delay (R-TX): "I had the utmost confidence in President Bush. He had laid the groundwork, and our national interest in the Middle East was clear. In the gulf we had a country that was invaded , and an oil interest to defend. ... we have a president I don't trust, who has proven my reason for not trusting him: had no plan. We have a civil war that was falsely described as a huge humanitarian problem, when in comparison to other places, it was nothing."

Then-Senate Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles (R-OK): "I think he's gotten us into a mess. I don't think you can bomb a country into signing a peace agreement."

Then-Senate Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles (R-OK): "The Administration, and NATO as a whole, greatly miscalculated the response Slobodan Milosevic would have to a bombing campaign. As I predicted, the Administration has escalated what was guerilla warfare into a much more serious conflict. The bombings have unleashed an evil reign and resulted in a humanitarian disaster."

Then-Senate Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles (R-OK): "I want NATO to be credible, but for crying out loud, when you are so arrogant to say here is our wisdom, here is this accord, we determined this is in your best interest and you must sign it or else we are going to bomb you--I stated in my speech on the bombing resolution that I don't think you can bomb a country into submission or into signing an agreement."

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK): "(P)resident has decimated our ability to defend ourselves."

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH): "I don't believe that a ground war in Kosovo using American troops is going to be very successful."

Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA): "This is the most inept foreign policy in the history of the United States."

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN): "This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem."


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so we are to believe that a retired general who hates seeing the army he served in wasted because of incompetence, is not credible because it's just politics. instead we should believe those who have a proven record of politicizing war for gain, and just flat out being wrong.

ultimately the writer fails to see point. when clark says
that George W. Bush has "made mistake after mistake as commander-inchief, taking us into a war we didn't have to wage, alone and under false pretenses, and is now managing it poorly."
he speaks the truth, while the detractors of the Kosovo war were just spewing rhethoric.

Clark was right about Kosovo and he is now also right about Iraq.

kosovo = win

iraq = lose(with Bush)

what is the biggest morale boost we can give our servicemen? i think they would want to be alive, like all the allied soldiers who fought in kosovo are.

[DieboldMustDie]

1. Who was it that published this?

:shrug:

[katusha]

2. arkansas democrat gazzette sorry