This is what being greeted as a liberator looks like.

That was Clark then...



This is Clark now...



Kosovo To Be Independent in Months: Clark
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro
May 25, 2006

The former U.S. general who commanded NATO’s 1999 air war against Serbia on May 25 predicted its southern province of Kosovo would become independent within months. Wesley Clark told Kosovo Albanian leaders in Pristina he had confidence in their “strong, positive and visionary proposals” to find a solution for Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999.

”I am confident that this issue will be solved very soon, and probably in few months, Kosovo will become independent and will respect the rights of all citizens,” said Clark. ”I believe that Kosovo will be welcomed into the family of the nations and that there will be many opportunities for the citizens of this country to prosper, raise big families and make their dreams come true.”

Clark, who is on a three-day visit to the disputed province, met Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who said Clark was a great friend of Kosovo, who stood by it in its most difficult times. ”He is and will always be honored by the people of Kosovo,” he said.

Clark commanded the 1999 NATO air strikes that drove Serbian forces loyal to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo because of their brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1825891&C=europe

Garentina Kraja
Associated Press

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro — Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark called Thursday for transition of authority in Iraq during the course of this year and said that the United States should soon begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. soldiers.

Clark, a four-star general who served as the supreme commander of NATO in 1997-2000 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, said the fledging Iraqi government must take charge and be given the means to address the security in the country.

“It’s necessary ... to make this year a year of transition in Iraq,” Clark told The Associated Press in an interview during his visit to Kosovo. “The Iraqi government must take charge.”

He said that ministers of interior, defense and national security should be appointed, but also said that a lot of help is needed from the international community to strengthen the Iraqi government in meeting the needs of the people.

“And then we should begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. soldiers and other coalition soldiers from Iraq,” said Clark.

“I do think that there should be no permanent bases there. I think that the United States should soon begin its process of redeployment,” he said, adding that he believed there will be “some withdrawals very soon given where we are.”

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1825852.php

WES CLARK: AMERICA'S MOST RESPECTED INTERNATIONAL LEADER.

He could take Condi's position and turn it around....He could take Rummy's position and actually perform the duties of the job....Hell he could be President....He could stand in one place and do nothing and be more effective than the loser whose there now....

Roger Dixon

Rocks thrown at windshield are commonplace. Truckers say rock-throwing children are common along their routes, and they're expert shots. "They could make a million dollars on a baseball field," one trucker says.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5431088>

Or this?


(I have a larger copy of this, but I can't find it on-line anymore)

<http://www.earthisland.org/project/newsPage2.cfm?newsID=587&pageID=177&subSiteID=44>

What could have been . . . . . .

Clark is my extremly close second. I would love to see Gore/Clark and then eventually Clark head his own ticket; based on the VP momentum.

I predicted the swift boating of Kerry back in 2002-2003.

hindsight may be 20/20, but so was foresight.

Where you been?

He is intelligent, experienced, humble, can speak in complete sentences...what's not to like?

I would have loved to have seen Clark debate Little Lord Pissy Pants.

they start attacking him, as they inevitably will, when he runs again. :)

Look out for major fireworks, as this man will not back down, stand down, or give ground!

He was responding to a question someone asked about what he would do if they attempted to, as it would later be termed, "swiftboat" him.

This line:

”I believe that Kosovo will be welcomed into the family of the nations and that there will be many opportunities for the citizens of this country to prosper, raise big families and make their dreams come true.”

And in particular the words 'raise big families'.

I know almost nothing about their culture, but that strikes me as a small, local gesture to say that, that way, and that it means a lot to the people to whom it was directed.

That's the kind of thing a leader and a diplomat would do.