Reply #56: And this:

[trillian]

I must move on to other matters as I have more tasks at hand and because you don't know me well enough. When I tell you Wes has no personal ambitions, any greed, or a scintilla of avarice, you have no basis to believe or trust me.

Yet I have known Wes for 40+ years, have borne the brunt of Wes' criticism for acts as mundane as cutting Sunday Services, have heard his response as to why anyone would tell of a marriage when to do so resulted in his being drummed from the Corps, offered Wes a major banking house partnership at age 31 when he was working in the White House and getting less-favorable offers from others, and witnessed Wes staying the course in the military, not for personal gain or fortune, but because we the people and our nation need leaders such as Wes Clark at a time when we seem to have none. His actions today are for the same reasons alone.

I've not questioned Wes on this latest allegation and won't have the chance before the campaign is decided, but as every other allegation, and those yet to come, are so contrary to Wes' life-long character and actions, it's not a matter of choice for me to believe or not (even as all the others have been proved false), but it is a matter of fact and record that Wes has not a spec of deceit or dishonesty in the fabric of his soul or the ability to exhibit or express anything of the kind. If anything, Wes comes off as an egg-head in the rather straight-forward, precision of his answers (yes, even the first one on his first day when he gave a short-hand response to a question that needed a whole lot more), reactions and responses to those who have dissembled at best and expect others to do the same.

If you can tell me you know John Kerry or any one else as well and can say the same, I'll admit we have a draw and two men are equally unique.

If you can't, and should Wes' message not be heard, should Bush remain where he is after November 2, I pity us all. Wes will move on as he has always, seeking to create security for Gert and now Wes III, but not ever forgetting or even stepping away from service to our nation.

If you've read this far, please don't think I am some old fool; I've been with, seen, and experienced the most incredible life that is Wes Clark's from up close and personal. He's stayed with me long after I'd disappointed him by my own displays of avarice, cunning, and greed more times than I care to remember, all of which are so incredibly absent from his being.

Wes is no savior, far from it. But Wes does have a singularly unique ability that I've seen for all these many years to influence if not direct outcomes that encourage success in others.

But now I'll rest my case with and allow history to draw its own conclusion

Good luck to us all. Peter Sheridan