September 26, 2003
Vacillating on Wesley Clark
At this point, I would accept any Democratic candidate who seems to have a shot at beating Bush. I would even vote for Lieberman or Gephardt, although I wouldn't like it. After reading Michael Moore's impassioned appeal to General Wesley Clark to run for president, I immediately seized on him as yet another possibility to get Resident Bush out of the White House in 2004. I like Howard Dean, mostly, and now I like Wesley Clark, mostly. However, there have been some allegations made about him that make me wonder if he's the right guy for the job. Anybody but Bush, of course, but it would be nice to not have to settle for just a lesser evil.
Specifically, the allegations revolve around his handling of a certain situation that occurred during the NATO operations in Bosnia in the mid-1990s. Apparently, Clark, who was the head of the NATO operation there, ordered British troops to block Russian troops from landing at Kosovo's Pristina Airport, a move that, in the words of the British commander who refused the order, might have started World War III. Here are some links that mention this story:
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/mainarchive/000202.html
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/967823.asp?0sl=-22
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3110020.stm
I don't know if this means Clark is a two-faced liar. I doubt it, actually. But it should serve as a word of caution, especially with Clark's much-publicized criticism of Bush's eagerness to use force to settle all international disputes. I'd like to hear more from Clark on the subject. I'm assuming that a long campaign will give him ample opportunities to explain this.
Posted by mike, September 26, 2003 1:13 PM