Posted on 01/18/2006 7:04:35 AM PST by kronos77
When the four-star retired general walked into Loeb Playhouse for his speech Tuesday night, he didn't head directly to his seat in the front row next to Purdue President Martin Jischke.
Instead, he walked down the aisle pausing at each row, shaking hands, looking each person directly in the eyes and saying "Hi, I'm Wesley Clark."
This is not the expected greeting most would expect from someone of Clark's stature former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe and candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2004 presidential election.
But this is how the 2006 Sears Lecture Series began. In Clark's speech, "The Balkans: A Strategic Vision," he led the audience through his time as part of the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and his efforts in the 78-day NATO air campaign to stop Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian assault on the Albanian population of Kosovo.
His strategy was a new one, using a system where military force acts only as political leverage for police negotiations.
Not a single allied soldier was killed in combat, said Clark.
Clark also spoke of the transition from the strategies the U.S. operated on during the Cold War to how the country must conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.
"We face serious challenges ahead, but to meet those challenges successfully, you have to know how you got here," said Clark of our post-Cold War foreign policy. "We got here because we lost our strategy."
Clark finished his piece with his view of 20th century America - who could get by on strength and cunning but said that 21st century America has "to also be wise, generous and visionary."
Clark then fielded questions from the audience, whose topics ranged from his involvement in Bosnia to the war on terror to China.
Jischke said he was impressed with the speech, but had come to expect excellence from Clark the two worked together as White House fellows from 1975 to 1976.
"He was clearly a very, very bright guy," said Jischke. "He was a very hardworking guy in addition to being brilliant."
Others in the audience had connections to Clark as well. Several members of ROTC from Clark's branch, the Army, came in uniform. Others that had served were there as well.
Andy Schummer, a senior in the College of Liberal Arts, recently returned from Afghanistan after serving a year with the Army National Guard. Schummer said he was happy with the speech and wants to attend the other speeches in the series.
"(Clark) has a lot of experience and is very knowledgeable about the way the U.N. works, the way NATO works and the way the U.S. military interfaces with civil leaders," said Schummer.
Two more speeches in the lecture series includes a talk by Pulitzer-prize winning editor for "Newsday" Roy Gutman at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 in Fowler Hall and Jacques Paul Klein, United Nations Special Representative to Liberia, at 7:30 p.m. on March 7 in Fowler Hall.
Balkan Ping!
Little weasely Clark is out for no one but himself.
Hmmmm could it be that it is 2006 and the Dems candidates are out to get a groundswell of support behind them.
hes' running for president
Where is the "Barf Alert"?
Writing memoires...
"Wh*re talks about honnesty, Soldier talks about shortening of service."
Serb proverb
In this case two coming to one.
Clark's stature former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe and candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2004 presidential election.
They always forget the "Fired" part of that.
I thought that if general wants to be president of USA, he should winn some war...
that`s just me...
The Clintons must have thought it the height of irony to promote a-peasenik to NATO CINC.
Wes Clark = Friend of Bill
Which enabled the Islamofascists the opportunity to resume the assault on the Serbian, Roma, and Jewish populations of Kosovo. Wesley Clark played a role in one of the largest cases of ethnic cleansing (the Serbs from their traditional homeland) in recent history.
This jerk thinks he's Zachary Taylor. Geez.
The Dems always need a uniform to provide cover for their radical anti-US stance. Weasely should be ashamed of himself, but somehow the few vets that become Dems drink the leftist kool aid with relish.
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