Hackworth on Clark

[jumptheshadow]

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target%20Homepage.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=32&rnd=735.1185025959128

A link is now available to the complete text of David Hackworth's statement on Wesley Clark. I know we discussed a summary of the comments but I don't think this link to his comments in their entirety has been posted before.

snip

I took a swing at Clark during the Kosovo campaign when I thought he screwed up the operation, and I called him a Perfumed Prince. Only years later did I discover from his book and other research that I was wrong - the blame should have been worn by British timidity and William Cohen, U.S. SecDef at the time.

snip

No doubt he's made his share of enemies. He doesn't suffer fools easily and wouldn't have allowed the dilettantes who convinced Dubya to do Iraq to even cut the White House lawn. So he should prepare for a fair amount of dart-throwing from detractors he's ripped into during the past three decades.

snip

For sure, he'll be strong on defense. But with his high moral standards and because he knows where and how the game (is) played, there will probably be zero tolerance for either Pentagon porking or two-bit shenanigans.

[EagleEye]

1. Sounds like Clark would be a great Defense Secretary

[jumptheshadow]

2. So in other words

Hackworth is saying:

* You should carefully evaluate the British and Sec. of Defense William Cohen before you jump to conclusions about the oft-repeated Pristina story.

* Clark could have cashed in his military credentials for decades of wealth in the corporate sector. But he chose to serve his country instead.

* Because Clark doesn't suffer fools, he made a few enemies during his Pentagon tenure. Remember that when you hear the sound bites slung from the RW quoting the guys who didn't like him.

[Padraig18]

3. Whew!

With all the sh*t being slung around about Clark, I find Col. Hackworth's comments reassuring. I'm afraid many of us tend to automatically equate the choice to serve the Republic in uniform as somehow 'suspicous' or 'bad' ab initio, which is completely unfair to the millions of our fellow citizens who have unselfishly made that choice.

[JanMichael]

4. Well he did cash in, didn't he?

"Clark could have cashed in his military credentials for decades of wealth in the corporate sector. But he chose to serve his country instead."

For that Arkansas investment banking firm, can't think of their name, not that there's anything unusual about that these days.

[jumptheshadow]

6. He spent decades serving this nation first

>>Hackworth said: I asked Clark why he didn't turn in his bloody soldier suit for Armani and the big civvy dough that was definitely his for the asking.


His response: I wanted to serve my country.<<

Then, when he retired after spending years earning far less than he could have in the private sector, he joined one of the largest companies in his home town.

I don't see the problem here.

[Padraig18]

8. Neither do I

[JanMichael]

9. I didn't say it was a bad thing.

Just that he did "Cash in", not for decades, but he did.

The statement doesn't ackowledge that and guides (at least the first time I scrolled it) one to leap ahead and assume he hasn't cashed in at all.

Once again: Not bashing Clark.

[roughsatori]

10. This is a riot

If you show that Clark did cash in, as a reply to posts claiming that Clark did not cash in--then you get a reply of "so what, there is nothing wrong with that."

Notice the many dupes of pro-Clark articles floating around hour after hour--but if anyone posts a dupe of a negative Clark article within 5 minutes the Clarkies are weeping tears of rage in their replies.

[jumptheshadow]

13. If this was a dupe, I apologize

It's been busy in NYC this week and my initial search didn't turn up the link to this article. I have been ducking in and out of DU very quickly. I know Hackworth was discussed but I hadn't seen the full text of the article.

I did, however, notice that the Pristina thread was trotted out about 50 times. Again, I am sorry for the dupe, but perhaps you can cut me some slack here, seeing that Hackworth's comments put Pristina in perspective.

And look, Hackworth's point is that Clark could have "cashed in" decades ago. But his priority wasn't to make fistfuls of money. He wanted to do public service instead.

"Cashed in" is loaded terminology. I worked three jobs to get through college, then landed a job at a good company when I graduated. Did I "cash in" by taking the job? I guess I did. Again, I see nothing wrong with it.

Clark took a job at a big company in his hometown. I don't see a problem with that.

[Zuni]

11. exactly

The story, which is repeated every day on RW talk radio, about him ordering Gen. Jackson to fire on Russian troops is Bullshit.

He ordered Jackson to block the runway at pristina, because he was not sure what the Russians were doing and feared they were in collusin with the Serbs.

[BJ]

5. A far cry from what Hackworth wrote about Clark in 1999

In an April 1999 essay titled Clark and Vietnam, David Hackworth wrote:
"Known by those who've served with him as the "Ultimate Perfumed Prince," he's far more comfortable in a drawing room discussing political theories than hunkering down in the trenches where bullets fly and soldiers die. An intellectual in warrior's gear. A saying attributed to General George Patton was that it took 10 years with troops alone before an officer knew how to empty a bucket of spit As a serving soldier with 33 years of active duty under his pistol belt, Clark's commanded combat units -- rifle platoon to tank division - for only seven years. The rest of his career's been spent as an aide, an executive, a student and teacher and a staff weenie."

[jumptheshadow]

7. Yes, he's repudiating that article

In the text I link to at the top of this thread.

[Zuni]

12. I like Wes Clark

and am sick of the slanders, innuendos, and attempts to demonize him. i have been looking at his Kosovo record, and all the other garbage that is being printed about him and concluded that most of it is BS.

[dfong63]

14. Clark's war left behind a radioactive battlefield

... and bombed civilian targets, and used cluster bombs.