Iraq War: The Case for Accountability

[Adelante]

Of all of the major public figures on the political scene, Clark is the first I have heard make the case for accountability.

Here's why we can't just consider this a black chapter of American history and move on: because we did that once before---in Vietnam. The Johnson and Nixon administrations took the nation into Vietnam and kept us there on the basis of lies, deceits and violations of the law. No one ever was held responsible or made to pay a price for it. Except, of course, for the 55,000 men and women in U.S. uniform who were killed, the hundreds of thousands who were wounded and scarred for life, and the million or so Vietnamese casualties.

Charges should have been brought against those in office who ordered such carnage. If that had happened, just maybe the Bush-Cheney White House would have been more sensitive to the truth and less willing to bend and violate the law to take us where we are today.

Clark isn't talking about a show trial, either. He specifically called for an inquiry into "the highest authorities" at the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the White House.

"We have to hold our leaders to high standards of behavior," said Clark. That's a line many politicians use in speeches. But it's a tough line to enforce when the people you call to account are the most powerful in government. Clark has the guts to say what many people are thinking. It would be tragic if the costs and humiliation of Iraq were to come and go without accountability.

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/article.php?nid=277248


Here is the speech referred to in this op-ed: "Legitimacy: First Task for American Security"

audio - http://www.sais-jhu.edu/media/may07/wesleyclark051607.m...

transcript - http://securingamerica.com/node/2425