As NATO supreme commander, Gen. Clark was in position to eradicate Al Qaida network in Europe, but he chose not to do so. To the contrary, he assisted Al Qaida allies in Bosnia and Kosovo and thus helped Al Qaida grow.
WITHOUT BOSNIA, THERE WOULD BE NO MOHAMMED ATTA's CELL IN GERMANY
pls. see this: P> "The skill level and organizational capabilities of those leading terrorist activities is demonstrated in the career of a 41-year-old German citizen of Syrian descent, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, an al-Qaida operative interviewed by Der Spiegel.
Gaining experience in guerrilla tactics in al-Qaida training camps, Zammar plied his deadly skills in what militant Islamic fundamentalists referr to as the "holy war" which raged in ethnically strife-torn Bosnia in the 1990s.
Afghanistan offered another theatre to Zammar for further honing his skills, so that, after returning to Germany, he commanded deep respect among Islamic youth considering involvement in militant activity. Zammar had already obtained German citizenship in 1982.
Zammar played a key role in the terrorist ring operating in Hamburg, Germany, acting as a recruiter, youth leader for al-Qaida, and liaison between operatives in a city known to be a hotbed of terrorist activity.
German investigators have learned that one of the individuals whom Zammar tied into the al-Qaida network was Mohammed Atta, the pilot of one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Zammar also brought two of Atta's lieutenants into the al-Qaida network, Ramzi Binalshibh and Said Bahaji."
Hopefully, the name of Gen. Clark will be added to the list in $1 trillion lawsuit against Al Qaida supporters.
The problem with Clark's reasoning is that it lacks coherence and consistency. It's all over the place. He tries to have it both ways. He essentially agrees with virtually every argument Bush made about Saddam: He has nuclear desires, has WMD, has history of attacking other countries without provocation, admits containment of Saddam hasn't worked, etc. But then he runs away from seriously confronting the very things he said were true about Saddam.
More sanctions, more international consensus (eck, he actually wrote that), more humanitarian access, blah-blah... Clark's suggested solutions here are no different than those offered by the French and the American Left: Let's all make nicey-nice in the international community because we want people to like us and otherwise we can't focus on catching Al-Qaeda or solve the Israeli-Palastinian problem.
Hard to believe that this man graduated first in his class. Even harder to believe he was a man who led others into battle.