Esquire Feature Story: The General (Clark)

Since we have so many tired, old Clark slams being rehashed lately, I thought it only fair to post one of the BEST Clark articles I've ever read. Here is an excerpt that demonstrates clearly the honor, integrity and courage of Wesley Clark:

WE LIKE OUR PRESIDENTS to have been soldiers because we like them to have shown courage under fire, which is to say that we do not like them to be cowards. We do not like our presidents to have been generals because we do not like our presidents to have had military ambitions, which is to say that we do not like them to be warmongers. The general, however, takes care to distinguish between the courage required for soldiering and the courage required for being a general, between physical courage and the courage required to make difficult decisions, even at personal expense. It was not so long ago that he had to show both kinds.

In August 1995, the general—three stars, working as J-5 for the Joint Chiefs—went to Bosnia as part of the negotiating team Ambassador Richard Holbrooke had put together to end the civil war that had resulted in the massacre of as many as eight thousand Muslim men and boys at the town of Srebrenica the month before. In Belgrade, Clark had met for the first time Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who was sponsoring the Bosnian Serbs. Now the team had to travel to Sarajevo. Told that the airport in Sarajevo was too dangerous to fly into, the team decided to drive and asked Milosevic to guarantee its safety on a road held by Bosnian Serbs. Milosevic did not, and so the team wound up taking a fortified Humvee and an armored personnel carrier on a pitched, narrow, winding mountain road notoriously vulnerable to Serb machine-gun fire. Clark and Holbrooke went in the Humvee, the rest in the APC. In his book, the general describes what happened this way: "At the end of the first week we had a tragic accident on Mount Igman, near Sarajevo. were killed when the French armored personnel carrier in which they were riding broke through the shoulder of the road and tumbled several hundred meters down a steep hillside."

It is not until one reads Holbrooke's book, To End a War, that one finds out that after the APC went off the road, Clark grabbed a rope, anchored it to a tree stump, and rappelled down the mountainside after it, despite the gunfire that the explosion of the APC set off, despite the warnings that the mountainside was heavily mined, despite the rain and the mud, and despite Holbrooke yelling that he couldn't go. It is not until one brings the incident up to the general that one finds out that the burning APC had turned into a kiln, and that Clark stayed with it and aided in the extraction of the bodies; it is not until one meets Wesley Clark that one understands the degree to which he held Milosevic accountable.

Full article at:

http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030801_mfe_clark_1.html

DTH

Grace under pressure.
A compulsion to do the right thing even if it means great cost.
Humanity.
Uncommon decency.

All the things that make a man good, this man showed in one moment and did he tell anyone about the story? Was it in his own book? No.
Like most real combat soldiers I know personally, he didn't tell
this story. Someone else did.

I like this man, I admire him. He has my vote to lose.

RV, who grew up watching body counts on network news and understands
what it means to hate war. But that was then. This is now. If I can
give a general a chance, given I lived through Viet Nam and all that
as a teen growing up and forming ROCK HARD attitudes, then anyone can. Open minds. Listening skills. That's all you need.

He did a good thing here, a selfless thing. Spin this.

The fact that he didn't even tell this heroic story to make himself look good in his book marks him as a very humble and selfless man.

Clark's modesty has also been touted by friends, such as Mary Steenburgen. It's in contrast to the media stories about his arrogance.

DTH

...may hurt him in a political campaign.

When that 2001 Repug dinner came to surface, why didn't Clark campaign just issue a release detailing all of the campaign work he'd done for Dem candidates in the past? The history is there.

My guess? Much like with the war story, he didn't feel the need to pimp his own accomplishments. To his detriment, I think Clark assumes people will be smart enough to do their own research and learn the facts if they are so curious.

But as we've seen here time and time again, that's not how folks operate.

Clark may have to learn to toot his own horn, whether he likes it or not.

Dean, et al's ugly truths?

I demand equal time. :)

he could use a good researcher like you. Not only that, you provide soundbites for others on the Right to be able to say, "Gee, EVEN the people at Democratic Underground don't like Clark!"

:kick:

DTH

Thank you.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

I had a feeling you would. General Clark is a great man, a man of honor and integrity and courage. I wish more here would see it.

DTH

This man is a hero....and is here to save us once again!

we can get on The General. I would have missed it for sure.

I'm glad he's in the race because, regardless of who gets the nomination, he is talking about issues, especially issues of foreign policy, in a different way than anyone else is...perhaps different than anyone else can.

I like it.