Wesley K. Clark: Still the Essential Alliance

Gen Clark is wise to warn us against the residual threat from the Soviet Union. They could come back anytime. The missile shield in eastern Europe will protect us from the Persian Empire. The last time, after all, they burnt down the Acropolis.

Clark's experience has blinded him to the changing practicalities of the world today. NATO has outlived its usefulness...just as the UN did some twenty years ago. You can't blame Russia for seeing NATO as a negative influence since it was created with the mission to oppose the growth of communist Russia. To try and give NATO a new face and new mission but keep its same structure i-- n light of the growth of the EU, of a perilous Middle East, and of a utterly changed Russian landscape -- is of dubious value to anyone. Technology and the ever "shrinking" of our world has made communication much more readily available. Throw in a few diplomat summits and some drinks and dinners and we can "accomplish" what we need.

Why is an alliance like NATO important? Nations can act without the presence of alliances like NATO, if a friendly nation is attacked. Also, how can an intellectual like General Clark, depend on bad relations with Iran, to formulate policies for NATO? It's good, that General Clark has joined politics, so that he can influence diplomacy in The United States, towards Iran. I admire the achievements of General Clark. But to be fair, The United States Armed Forces, in Afghanistan, are not fighting a regular army, like they are not, also in Iraq. This is not the role perhaps, for any national military. Why cannot The United States help purely to develop the Afghanistan armed forces to it's full potential, so that all the people of Afghanistan can be proud of their armed forces? The same should also be followed in Iraq. It does not brook well, when the national army fights insurgency.

Hey I control the interest rate. I did put the oil to $147, then $40,
not $200 -it was a choice I made.

Kristina Brooker (126 395 086)

Yet Clark did more than just this and for it,he deserves condemnation, not praise.


An Oct 13,1999 AP file photo shows a smiling Wesley Clark shaking hands with an equally smiling Thalim Hachim,leader of the KLA, and known as ''the Butcher'' for his own series of anti-Serb atrocities carried out during the conflict. The decision by KLA and several lawmakers including Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Joe Lieberman,was to arm the KLA which was magically turned from a pack of Arrow Cross fascists into ''freedom fighters'' [Clinton and Lieberman both using this very phrase to describe the KLA].
Except that this outfit was heavily infiltrated by al Qaeda. Hachim himself, attended OBLs training camps while in Afghanistan,as did several of his forces militants. Clarks move was a blunder ensuring that years of fighting would continue,as they ultimately did, with the KLA ethnically and religiously cleansing Kosovo long after KFOR forces departed the field. Clarks ''dazzling little war'' would have impacts that are still felt today.