HOWARD DEAN was absolutely spectacular on Tweety's

CNN 8/17/03



Iraq shouldn't be center of war on terror

Sunday, August 17, 2003 Posted: 4:16 PM EDT (2016 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Wesley Clark, who once served as NATO commander and might have presidential aspirations, attacked the Bush administration Sunday for launching a war with Iraq on "false pretenses" and spreading the military too thin amid the global war on terrorism.

"You'd be taking them to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing machine the way we went into the war in Iraq," Clark said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Clark, who led the alliance during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, has been increasingly critical of the Iraq war. His criticism could be a prelude to an announcement that he will run for president.

Clark, a retired Army general, said more than half of the Army's deployable strength is committed to stabilizing Iraq, where American and allied soldiers face continuing attacks four months after Saddam Hussein's government collapsed.

"We've made America more engaged, more vulnerable, more committed less able to respond," he said. "We've lost a tremendous amount of goodwill around the world by our actions and our continuing refusal to bring in international institutions."

He said that if Iraq "is the centerpiece of the war on terror, it shouldn't be."


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So far, no evidence of weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. U.S. officials have said evidence found since the war began suggests that Iraq was still trying to produce them.

Clark has called on Congress to investigate allegations that the Bush administration overstated intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/17/sprj.irq.clark.comments/index.html