Clark's Statement On The President's New Intelligence Commission

[robbedvoter]

For Immediate Release
Date: February 6, 2004
http://clark04.com/press/release/229/
Statement On The President's New Intelligence Commission
Clark says: President shouldn't blame CIA for failures: "They report; he decides"
Little Rock - General Wesley Clark issued the following statement on today's announcement by President Bush of his new commission to investigate intelligence failures on Iraqi weapons.
"President Bush's announcement today is a disappointment but not a surprise - George W. Bush's presidency has been a series of failures followed by buck-passing.
"The President of the United States must be responsible for the use of intelligence by his Administration. The President should not use a panel like the one announced today to lay blame on the intelligence community, whose job it is to provide information to policy makers. If there were failures, they were his - the buck should stop with him. As the President's favorite network would say, 'they report; he decides.'
"The President also should not be using a panel to sweep pressing issues under the rug. Waiting until 2005 for the commission's report simply is not acceptable - if there is a major threat posed by these weapons, we should have that information in 90 days, not a year from now.
"I also would like to know why the commission is being created now - it appears that the President delayed the creation of the commission and created a report date in a way that makes it difficult for citizens to know the degree of responsibility and accountability of this administration. This follows the 9/11 Commission - the Administration put up road blocks and delays so that Americans won't hear their report until after the election. George Bush's modus operandi is to keep the public in the dark. I believe that in a democracy the government belongs to the people and I'll be a president who believes in being accountable to the people, not hiding from the people."

[alittlelark]

1. Clark says it like it is.....

But he should have added a yyyeeeaaghhh somewhere - tyhen it might make the regular news!!

[HootieMcBoob]

2. Nice

The opportunity is still there to nominate the best candidate to be the next President. Let's not miss it.

[leftchick]

3. Now there is a sound bite! "They report, HE decides!"

Fantastic!.... Go Wes!


:bounce:

[joanski01]

4. Gosh, is he ever good.

No wonder they black him out on TV. The media doesn't want Americans hearing what he has to say. He is soooooooooooo right.

[childslibrarian]

5. I hope

people will listen....

[iam]

6. I'll tell you what,

Clarke is right on the money every time. He reminds me of Bill Clinton - absolutely brilliant and destined for the Presidency. Get on the band wagon now folks and you can tell your children "I liked Wes Clarke when liking Clarke wasn't cool".

[acmavm]

7. Over 50,000 of us wrote to the General to convince him to run for

President. I was one. Before that I supported John Kerry. But since I started paying attention to the General, and saw what a decent, fine, intelligent man he is, I've never looked back.

Of course, any Dem that gets the nomination gets my vote. But I pray that it's Clark.

[jmcgowanjm]

8. Clark has best chance of avoiding small plane crashes

and finding out the total number of soldiers who
deserve Purple Hearts.

Col Hackworth-about the number of warriors in a line tank division.

Hackworth writes, “Even I...was staggered when a
Pentagon source gave me a copy of a Nov. 30 dispatch
showing that since George W. Bush unleashed the
dogs of war, our armed forces have taken 14,000
casualties in Iraq

Clark should start quoting Scott Ritter, a fellow Arkansawyer.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/feb2004/woun-f04.shtml

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:-K8cyNSvw2IJ:bspyle.us/+total+purple+hearts+awarded+Iraq&hl=en&ie=UTF-8