For those seriously curious about Wes Clark

[CarolNYC]

Oops, I think I did something wrong the last time around.

Here it is again, hopefully acceptable this time.

I know the positive Clark threads drive some people nuts here. It seems it is much more frowned upon by some to post something informative about Gen Clark than it is to go into threads about him (or even not about him) and attack him and I know there are folks who don't want to know more about Gen Clark for fear they will find something to like about this careeer military man. But I do believe that there are some folks who are seriously curious about the General. The following list is for those who genuinely want to know more about Gen Clark.

First, the books...
Wesley K. Clark - A Biography - Antonia Felix. This is a short biography of Clark, an easy read and a nice overview of his life and accomplishments.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp ...

Winnning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire - Wesley K. Clark. Clark's latest book, his views on the "war on terror" and the Iraq War.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

Waging Modern War - Wesley K. Clark . Clark's first book, about the Kosovo campaign, quite long and detailed.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

These books feature Clark prominently:
The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace With America's Military - Dana Priest
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide - Samantha Power (Samantha Power became a big fan of Clark's, as you can tell from the wonderful intro she gave the General at a press conference after his testimony at the Hague, which you can read here http://www.kiddingonthesquare.com/2004/01/the_subtle_ar ... )
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

To End A War - Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke's account of the negotiations to end the war in Bosnia. This is a great read. It was the first "Clark book" that I read and my admiration and respect for both men grew as I read it. It contains the "rappelling down the cliff face to try to save his colleagues" incident.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals - David Halberstam, an interesting read, as are all Halberstam books, IMHO.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry ...

Magazine and newspaper articles:
Esquire: The General - This, I think, is the article that put me over the top on Clark. I had been researching him thoroughly before taking the step to try to convince him to run as I thought it was a great and terrible thing that I was going to ask him to do and I better be sure I could support him if he did. I came to see, through my research, that not only was this a guy that I thought could win, but that here was a really good man. After I read this, I jumped fully on board.
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030801_mf ...

This is a great article Clark wrote in the Washington Monthly concerning how Bush is messing up his war on terror.
Broken Engagement
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.cla ...

Gen Clark's cover story interview with The Advocate:
http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/907/907_clark.asp

Pretty in depth article about Clark's life and career:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/clark/art ...
from_little_rock_chooses_military_path/

Wonderful, wonderful article by Elizabeth Drew called Waiting for the General. This addresses some of the "issues" that others in the military had with Gen Clark.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16795

Then there is a truly marvelous article in the December 2003 issue of GQ called "General Electric" and a quite nice profile called "What About Wes" from Elle that I can't find links to. Anyone know of links to either of these pieces??


Couple of online things:
Josh Marshall's Interview with the General shortly after he announced:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/old/oct0301.html


David Hackworth's column, in which he explains how his opinion of Clark changed after he read the General's book and actually met the man:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_I ...


There's this incredible speech by Gen Clark to the Center for American Progress in October of 2003. Wes was keynote speaker for their conference on New American Strategies for Security and Peace. I believe it was in this speech that he first voiced the thought that Bush should be held accountable for 9/11 happening on his watch, which sent the more timid ones into a frenzy (How could he dare say such a thing! Oh, the horror!)
http://www.cfr.org/campaign2004/pub6493/wesley_clark/ne ...
_for_security_and_peace.php


Some stuff, lectures and Q&A type things he did before becoming a candidate. Some are quite long and redundant as he recounts his life and thoughts on the world in a couple of them, but interesting nonetheless.

Speaking in February of 2003, he says "we've got to understand that in America foreign policy, force is the last resort. Yes, you may have to use it. You may even have to use it preemptively. But the use of force is not the guiding principle of American foreign policy. Military might is not the guiding foreign policy principle. Our principle is that disputes and problems should be resolved peacefully if at all possible," among lots of other things:
http://www.cfr.org/pub5632/wesley_k_clark_carla_a_robbi ...

Here, he speaks at the 2003 Morgenthau Lecture at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, June 5, 2003:
http://draftthegeneral.blogspot.com /

Here he explains how the military works from the bottom up (for those of you afraid a military man would only know how to work from the top down):
"The military works from the bottom up. If you're a general, you go out and talk to the troops. You say, what's it look like out there and what do you think is over the next hill. Generals aren't supposed to know that. How bad is the artillery falling on you, this is World War I stuff. The general then goes back to his headquarters well out of artillery range. But occasionally he comes up and talks to the troops to find out what's really going on. World War I stuff -- from the bottom up. When military commanders give orders -- maybe it's not true in the Navy and the Air Force as much -- but in the Army we always know that ultimately the commander on the ground is going to be left with the order. He may have to come back and modify it. You can't go that way, you told me to go on this trail, this trail shows on a map, boss, but there is no trail there. Give me a bigger sector, give me more artillery, give me engineers to clear the trail. It works from the bottom up."
http://wesleyclark.h1.ru/military_reform.htm (The Civi Military Affairs and U.S. Diplomacy: The Changing Roles of the Regional Commanders-In-Chief(CINCs) May 2001 link)

I like this quote from a June 2001 guest commentary in Armed Forces Journal International:
"It makes me a little bit sad to hear some of our young officers complaining that they are doing peacekeeping instead of warfighting. Have these officers ever been in a warfight? Have they ever seen men die? Have they ever felt the fear from artillery pounding in on them? What is this great glory that they see in warfighting that they don't see in keeping the peace in a place like Bosnia or Kosovo? Isn't it far better to be there preventing the outbreak of conflict and contributing to the resolution of an urgent international problem without bloodshed than it is to be called in at the last minute in desperation and chaos and thrown into a fight?

I think it is. "
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/AFJI/Mags/2000/june/g ...

Here is the transcript of the General's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in Sept 2002:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/security/has269000 ...

And here is link to audio of his brilliant testimony before the same Committee last week:
http://hasc3.house.gov/04-06-05FullComm.asf

Finally, video:

You can find tons of good stuff in the media section of www.u-wes-a.com .

And you can watch this wonderful film made for his campaign "American Son", here:
http://www.clark04.com/americanson /

I hope that's not too much. I didn't mean to post so many links when I started but there is just so much good stuff out there. This just covers the tip of the iceberg.

And, thanks, Nancy! :)