From a Die Hard CLARKIE: Why What WES CLARK says about OBAMA doesn't make any sense!

[FrenchieCat]

As a steadfast and devout Clarkie, I am deeply disappointed in Wes Clark for speaking out against Obama's CIC qualifications in the way that he has. Considering that Obama really may be the Nominee, Wes Clark is literally jumping into the frey in assisting to bring down the party that he has always said he would work hard to lift up; the Democratic party.

This is not as though there has been no voting already. This is not as though Hillary is ahead and simply attempting to put Obama away. No, this situation is not like the time a month prior to Iowa in 2003, when Gen. Clark said that he wouldn't be Howard Dean's Dick Cheney (and anyways, Hillary needs a Dick Cheney Veep or a Former President Husband too).

Since the summer of 2003 until Wes Clark announced his support for Hillary Clinton in October of last year, I had donated to his campaign, to his PAC, to candidates running that he wanted me to support. I have called states, written letters to the media, to Governmental Representatives, and responded at various websites. I was one of his staunchest defenders at DU in particular. I bought his books, went to his speeches when he came to my neck of the woods, and even flew to New York from California to his "Securing America" PAC opening, etc...

In other words, I have done everything in my power humanly possible to support Wes Clark in each and everyone of his endeavors.

Here's the website that I have maintained for the past couple of years with the expressed purpose of defending the General: http://www.rapidfire-silverbullets.com/

Unfortunately for me, today, Wes Clark has broken my political heart. Whether I will be able to get over it, I don't know.

I had to work in S.F. today, and so I was unaware of his newly stated public opinion about Barack Obama until I got back this evening.

I have read and listened to his words as he raises doubts as to the abilities of the most effectively inspiring candidate that has come along in a great while, and one who is very definitely in line to becoming the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States of America.

The more I thought about it, the more I questioned why Wes Clark would say something like what he has stated about Barack Obama, when this is nothing he has ever said about Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton, now nor then....and we all know that Bill Clinton had no more Foreign Policy experience then did Barack Obama during his first run (actually, based on the committees that Barack sits on and the legislation that Barack has been able to pass, Barack has more Foreign Policy experience than did Bill Clinton). And we know that sleeping with the President is not a credential for becoming CIC, especially if you don't attend National Security Meetings or have National Security Clearance at the time that you find yourself in the White House.

Well, Let me explain further.....

In 1993, the Clinton Administration allowed 800,000 Rwandans to be slaughtered with Machetes in Rwanda, while the world stood by. General Clark was one of the few who offered a military plan to the Clinton administration to send troops there to stop the violence. He was ignored and his plan went nowhere. Why? Because the Clinton Administration didn't want to chance the political fallout and lowered poll approvals after the Somalia disaster.

Did Wes Clark publicly criticize Bill Clinton for this unforgivable occurrence ever; before or after he was retired from the army? NO.

In 1994, Wes Clark was made Director of Strategic planning for the Joint Chief of Staff under Clinton. He has talked about this, during speeches many times; the fact that there was no global strategic plan put in place by the Clinton Administration. It was his job to get it done, and so he tried....but he has maintained that we still don't have a real effective strategic plan, to this day.

In 1999, Wes Clark had been begging the Clinton administration to intervene in Kosovo for quite sometime, according to one Samantha Power (2003 Pulitzer winning Author of "Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide "). And although eventually Bill Clinton allowed it, Wes Clark, than Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, wasn't allowed to fight that war the way that he felt it should be fought. In fact, Bill Clinton allowed Wes to fight the war with one hand tied behind his back.

There was a big showdown in reference to the use of Apache Helicopters during that Kosovo war, and Wes Clark was rebuffed at every turn in reference to being allowed to use them (For low altitude bombing). The war ended up lasting longer than it should have, and possibly more civilian lives were lost due to this decision.

Shortly after the war was won, and General Wes Clark had been totally dogged by Pentagon Knives, he was summarily retired early. This is not something he wanted or had asked for; this was his prize for having won Clinton's Kosovo war while Bill Clinton was busy defending the Blue Dress via impeachment, and God knows where Hillary was.

Did Bill Clinton stand by Wes Clark and defend him on this stab in the back from Clinton's Defense Secretary and his pentagon minions? NO.


Did Bill Clinton have to courage to attempt to reverse an obvious wrong on Clark's behalf and make it right? NO.

And so, Gen. Wes Clark left the army that he has said time and time again he loved more than anything, after his family.

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Wes Clark has always maintained that he was against the Iraq War and would have "probably" voted No, if he had a choice. This was one of the strength that he offered up during his Presidential candidacy. He had maintained that the Levin Amendment was the way to go on that vote. Of course, Hillary Clinton did quite the opposite. She Voted for the IWR and voted against the Levin Amendment. Did Wes Clark denounce her as not fit to be CIC based on this terrible vote at that time, or anytime since? NO.

Do I think the felt that her choices were the right ones? NO.

Hillary Clinton didn't bother to read the NIE prior to her Vote on the IWR, and so she hadn't done her "homework". Did Wes Clark criticize her for this lack of due diligence? NO.

In fact, oftentimes, during his talk of support for Hillary Clinton, he states that she does her "homework", which really wasn't the case, when it came to voting for the "Biggest Strategic Blunder in American Foreign Policy History", as Wes Clark likes to refer to the debacle that we are currently engaged in.

What is odd, is that the very Senators who listened to Gen. Wes Clark and quoted him in their floor speeches against going into war, and voted NAY on the IWR, have mostly endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. There's Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Durbin, and Sen. Feingold, Sen. Chaffee(R) among others.

Hillary Clinton said she believed that Saddam had WMDs when she made her IWR speech. Wes Clark had testified the exact opposite during his testimony to Congress in September of 2002. Has Wes Clark criticized her for it, then or since? NO.


More recently, Wes Clark had been devoting himself to a website called stopwariniran.com . He felt that the Bush administration were saber rattling and basically instigating war. He was one of the first voices to call for "Talking" to Iran, and was lauded for it.

Meanwhile, Hillary was giving speeches to AIPAC doing her own Saber Rattling. Then right around the time that Wes Clark was gathering signatures in reference to this "Stop War in Iran" action, Hillary Clinton voted for the Iran Resolution.

Did he criticize her at the time for clearly taking such action? NO.

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And so to conclude this long drawn out reason why I believe that Gen. Wes Clark is simply not making sense when making the statements that he has made against Sen. Barack Obama's experience or lack thereof, is that it is Senator Obama who was against this war from the start, and stated so in much clearer language than Gen. Wes Clark ever did; not Hillary Clinton.

It is Sen. Barack Obama who states that we should talk to Iran instead of saber rattling; not Hillary Clinton.

It is Sen. Barack Obama who worked and got something accomplished in terms of passing some Nuclear Non-Proliferation legislation; not Hillary Clinton.

It is Sen. Barack Obama who voted for the Ban on Cluster Bombs in civilian areas (and Wes Clark knows the dangers of the exact dangers of Cluster Bombs) and it was Wes Clark who said that we need to limit where we use them; not Hillary Clinton.

And so after all that I have said, my only point is that Gen. Wes Clark simply isn't making any sense with this opinion when comparing Sen. Obama to Sen. Clinton. I don't know why he doesn't see the disconnect, but it is definitely there, clear as day.

I will always respect and admire Gen. Wes Clark for his own accomplishments and his own leadership on military matters; but I have to say, what Gen. Wes Clark showed me today, is that although he himself possesses the qualities required for a Commander-in-Chief, he is very wrong when he states that Sen. Obama doesn't have them, and Hillary does.

And so, here is my message to General Clark:

"General Clark, I respectfully disagree in total with your opinion on this issue. It takes wise judgment and strong leadership in doing what's right and not anything else to lead this nation, and unfortunately, the candidate that you are supporting has shown time and time again that she is the one not fit for that duty."

Yours Truly sorry about this,

FrenchieCat