Have we heard from Wes Clark yet?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I know he really worked hard to get Democrats in. But I haven't really seen statements from our leading Democrats lately.

[gfnrob]

1. "It's because of Iraq."

[SharonAnn]

2. His ad "Remember, it's because of Iraq" was important.

[tk2kewl]

3. check this thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2945614

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. Thanks. He is always to eloquent. Such a difference from Bush.

I sure hope he gets it together to run.

[Avalux]

4. I just heard him on NPR minutes ago - guest on the Diane Rhem show.

He talked about incoming defense secretary Robert Gates. Although he didn't criticize Gates, he basically said nothing will change with a new body in there; other than the way the public is handled.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. Oh, I hope he is wrong about that. I am so sick of "being handled"

by this adm.

[Avalux]

8. Gates is a piece of work.

He was head of the CIA for Reagan, head of NSA for Bush Sr., probably trained Bin Laden in the 80's to fight the Soviets, has ties to Iran-Contra, involved in promoting electronic voting.

This guy is not going to do the right thing. Policy in Iraq will not change; only what we see and hear.

[madrchsod]

9. actually clark did bring a ray of hope

and a perspective on what will have to be done to get our troops out eventually and stabilize the middle east. daddy`s guys may not get the job done but there will be a change in policy very soon.

[Avalux]

11. I won't hold my breath.

They will not let go of why we went there in the first place - to set up a permanent presence in the ME for control of the region/oil. That part of the policy will remain intact. How they go about it at this point is up for grabs.

[madrchsod]

7. very interesting conversation wasn`t it......

looks like dad is back in charge now and cheney is history....

[sandnsea]

10. Especially that body

I hope he comes out against Gates. What Dems do about him will say a lot about how much they're truly going to fight Bush and the neocon agenda.

[Boo Boo]

14. I find that odd

Gates is a member of Baker's Iraq Study Group. He's a close friend of Bush Sr., who hated Rummy apparently. It would seem like Bush just nuked the Neocon wing of his admin yesterday, and put his Dad's crew in charge of the show.

The leaks out of the Study Group sounded an awful lot like Wes Clark's position; how is that not going to change anything? Color me confused.

[dmosh42]

12. On board of 'Vote Vets' group

He is on the advisory board of 'VoteVets' group which ran independent ads in those districts that had Iraq or Afghanistan vets running for office. You may have seen the one with the defective body armor, or some of the others. The idea was to show that those Repubs who were supposed to be 'supporting our troops', really had voted against their benefits when they could. Pretty much of an embarassment to those incumbents!

[Donna Zen]

13. Wes Clark said

Last night on AAR, Wes said that rummy had reached his political "half life." He also said the key to the solution is not in Pentagon; it's in the WHouse. I think that is very important as we consider the Casey appointment: it will not fix Iraq.

[Boo Boo]

15. Do you mean Gates?

I think Casey might be a little too dead.

Gates won't fix Iraq, but he might "fix" a few Neocons. I'd disagree slightly with Wes on this point: obviously the guy in the White House is/has a problem, but it's the guy in the Vice President's residence that you really need to worry about. Seems to me that Cheney got neutered yesterday. Rummy was his guy. The Pentagon had been set up as a sort of shadow government by Cheney and Rummy. They did their own cherry picked intel, and all that nefarious plotting...

Seems to me that Baker took control of the Pentagon away from the Neocons. Seems to me that Cheney has been cut off. How is that not a big deal?

[Jai4WKC08]

16. Yes and No

Gates is not a neo-con, it's true. But the problem is, Bush still is, sort of. So is Condi. In fact, there are still alot of neo-cons all thru-out the administration, especially among the civilians in the Pentagon. I can't see Gates cleaning 'em all out. And while I think Gates' appointment signals that Cheney and his cabal are out of favor, it's way too early to call him "neutered." Guys like Cheney don't just accept defeat and walk away into the sunset.

One of the concerns I heard from Clark (can't remember whether it was last nite on AAR or this morning on NPR) was that he doesn't think Gates has the background or personality to compete against the other influences within the inner power circles. I think I also heard him saying that Gates may have been out of govt too long to be prepared for the many problems facing the Pentagon and the nation other than Iraq, such as the military options against Iran that many in the administration are pushing for.

[Boo Boo]

17. Well, competency for the job is certainly a valid concern. Gates was an

analyst at the CIA that worked his way to the top. Not sure if that really prepares one to just jump into the mess that Rummy has created. But, then again, maybe he'll get out of the way and let the pros do their job. That'd be a switch. I guess I was just sort of assuming that Gates was a cutout for Baker.

Bush today repeated his "I'll take any advice that helps me achieve my unrealistic goals" line again today. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see just how much things have changed. I had read that he had said that he'd be taking advice from Baker, so I saw the Gates appointment as being part and parcel of that. I guess the open question is, does Bush intend to adopt the Iraq Study Group's suggestions or not.

An interesting thing about Gates is that he is very close to Bush Sr., whereas Rummy was anything but---they apparently disliked each other. So, now Bush Sr. has a very close friend as SecDef. Rummy was not one of the Bush "family," but Gates is.