2004 Elections: Democratic Party Contenders

When has anyone ever seen a debate with commercial breaks?

I get very edgy when I hear giggle-comments about Sharpton. I didn't see/hear him in the debate last night but when I have heard him, he strikes me as being very, very smart, keeping plenty in reserve, and having the advantage of a fresh, off-center point of view (in that sense, like Dean).

c.i., Clark damned near started WWIII with the Russians ... only the direct refusal of Clarks orders on the part of British General Sir Mike Jackson prevented the preposterous situation of Coalition Partners engaging in combat with one another, over who got to occupy the airfield at Pristina first. Clark weas fired for that ... he was formally relieved of command, and was retired. It didn't help that he wanted to bomb the CNN Burea in Belgrade. His command of the 1st Cav at Ft. Hood TX, '92-'94, was termed by one military analyst as "the perfect example of everything that's wrong with today's General Officer Corps". Fudged reports, screwy accounting, skewed training results, falsified records ... you name it. His farewell tour following the Kosovo assignment from which he was removed was unauthorized, and consumed short-supply assets and resources sorely missed by operational units in the theater. Dave Hackworth called Clark "The Ultimate Perfumed Prince". He reminds me very much of the sort of generals who ran things in Vietnam from the Pentagon. He awarded himself the service medal for service in the Kosovo Theater despite the fact his service did not meet the requirements of stationing and duty to merit the citation. Clark's chief qualifications for command were that he was from Arkansas and was a Clinton supporter. I think he'd be perfectly acceptable as a Democratic Candidate from the Republican point of view ... maybe not as desireable an opponent as Sharpton or Kucinich, but certainly no more difficult to deal with than Dean or Lieberman.

Good God.

That's what happens when you mix Democrats with the military.

Wesley Clark is supposed to decide if he's in the hunt by the end of next week, according to CNN.

Predictions, anyone?

But General Clark's plan was blocked by General Sir Mike Jackson, K-For's British commander.

"I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," he reportedly told General Clark during one heated exchange.

General Jackson tells the BBC: ''We were [looking at] a possibility....of confrontation with the Russian contingent which seemed to me probably not the right way to start off a relationship with Russians who were going to become part of my command.''

In his book "Waging Modern War," Gen. Clark wrote about his fury to learn
that Russian peacekeepers had entered the airport at Pristina, Kosovo,
before British or American forces. In the article "The guy who almost
started World War III," (Aug. 3, 1999), The Guardian (U.K.) wrote, "No
sooner are we told by Britain's top generals that the Russians played a
crucial role in ending the west's war against Yugoslavia than we learn that
if NATO's supreme commander, the American General Wesley Clark, had had his
way, British paratroopers would have stormed Pristina airport, threatening
to unleash the most frightening crisis with Moscow since the end of the Cold
War. 'I'm not going to start the third world war for you,' General Sir Mike
Jackson, commander of the international KFOR peacekeeping force, is reported
to have told Gen. Clark when he refused to accept an order to send assault
troops to prevent Russian troops from taking over the airfield of Kosovo's
provincial capital."

Nato chief tried to block Russians, Jackson refused to risk Armageddon

Generals at war over Kosovo raid

FROM IAN BRODIE
IN WASHINGTON

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL Sir Michael Jackson's
refusal to risk Armageddon was at the heart of his
tensions with General Wesley Clark, Nato supreme
commander, as the occupation of Kosovo began.

"I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," the
British general was reported to have told General Clark
after refusing his orders to send assault troops and
helicopters into Pristina airport to block the Russian
forces.

The clash, in which the British Government backed
General Jackson, and the American Government did not
support General Clark, surfaced just days after the Nato
commander had been abruptly told in a midnight call that
he would be replaced next April.

Trouble between the generals started immediately after the
air war had ended and General Jackson had been made
commander on the ground in Kosovo. Talks on Russia's
role had broken down in Moscow and 200 Russian
troops entered Pristina at 1.30am on June 12.

According to Newsweek, General Clark was so anxious
to stop the Russians from stealing a march to Pristina
airport that he ordered an airborne assault by British and
French troops to take the field. But General Jackson
would not carry out General Clark's orders, not believing
that an assault was necessary.

General Clark was not mollified. He asked Admiral James
Ellis, the American in charge of Nato's Southern
Command, to order helicopters to land on the runways at
Pristina so that Russian Ilyushin transports could not land.
This time Admiral Ellis balked, saying General Jackson
would not like it. The Ilyushins were in fact blocked by the
intervention of American officials who persuaded Hungary
to deny overflight rights to the Russians.

Both General Jackson and General Clark appealed to
their political leadership back home for support. General
Jackson got all the help he needed. General Clark did not,
meaning effectively that his orders had been overruled.

General Clark eventually arrived in Kosovo on June 24,
saying he had come to consult General Jackson as the
commander of Kfor on the progress of Nato's
deployment.It was at this meeting that General Clark
complained that his orders were not being followed and
General Jackson made his remark about the Third World
War. General Clark apparently also complained about
General Jackson having gone through political channels.

The two generals could not be more different, according
to David Hackworth, America's most decorated soldier
and now a commentator and frequent critic of General
Clark and the Pentagon. Last night he said: "Clark is one
of those 'Perfumed Princes' at the top of the American
military leadership. These are the guys who are totally out
of touch with the guys at the bottom.

"Mike Jackson has spent his career not worrying about
getting his ticket punched but in leading troops. He is the
ultimate warrior. Clark has only got eight years of leading
troops. Jackson had that before he was a major."

Sofia wrote:

Good God.

That's what happens when you mix Democrats with the military.

What a sick, sad joke this comment is, with AWOL Bush yelling "bring 'em on" with our soldiers still in harm's way, with Cheney's deferment, with DeLay's contention that he couldn't serve because all the spots were taken by minorities.