Traitor Hackworth Does Turnabout on Wes Clark

DefenseWatch ^ | 09-22-2003 | David H. Hackworth

[WestCoastDefense]

Looks like Hack has been paid and bought for...

Reporting for Duty: Wesley Clark By David H. Hackworth

With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad. This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya – as long as they don’t blow each other away with friendly fire.

Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly asked, “Hack, what do you think of the general?”

For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours interviewing the man for Maxim’s November issue, I’m impressed. He is insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national security tick – and he thinks on his feet somewhere around Mach 3. No big surprise, since he graduated first in his class from West Point, which puts him in the super-smart set with Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Maxwell Taylor.

Clark was so brilliant, he was whisked off to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and didn’t get his boots into the Vietnam mud until well after his 1966 West Point class came close to achieving the academy record for the most Purple Hearts in any one war. When he finally got there, he took over a 1st Infantry Division rifle company and was badly wounded.

Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, one of our Army’s most distinguished war heroes, says: “Clark took a burst of AK fire, but didn’t stop fighting. He stayed on the field till his mission was accomplished and his boys were safe. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. And he earned ‘em.”

It took months for Clark to get back in shape. He had the perfect excuse, but he didn’t quit the Army to scale the corporate peaks as so many of our best and brightest did back then. Instead, he took a demoralized company of short-timers at Fort Knox who were suffering from a Vietnam hangover and made them the best on post – a major challenge in 1970 when our Army was teetering on the edge of anarchy. Then he stuck around to become one of the young Turks who forged the Green Machine into the magnificent sword that Norman Schwarzkopf swung so skillfully during Round One of the Gulf War.

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.”

He says he now wants to lead America out of the darkness, shorten what promises to be the longest and nastiest war in our history and restore our eroding prestige around the world.

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

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.

Hey, I am one of those: 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.

At the interview, Clark came along without the standard platoon of handlers and treated the little folks who poured the coffee and served the bacon and eggs with exactly the same respect and consideration he gave the biggies in the dining room like my colleague Larry King and Bob Tisch, the Regency Hotel’s owner. An appealing common touch.

But if he wins the election, don’t expect an Andrew Jackson field-soldier type. Clark’s an intellectual, and his military career is more like Ike’s – that of a staff guy and a brilliant high-level commander. Can he make tough decisions? Bet on it. Just like Ike did during his eight hard but prosperous years as president.

[Poohbah]

Laughing and scratching with a known (to everyone but the Serbophiles) war criminal...

That is NOT going to play in Peoria.

[metesky]

This account has been banned or suspended.

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[annyokie]

Some background on Clinton's fair-haired fellow Arkansas/ Rhodes Scholar General who was saved from forced retirement at the 3 star level and given his fourth one and the European NATO Command.


Subject: Gen. Clark as Presidential Candidate





> BY JACK KELLY
Retired General Wesley Clark has thrown his helmet into the ring. He has
improved the Democratic presidential field by entering it, just as he
improved t! he Army by leaving it.
Clark is a brilliant man, and a brave one. A Rhodes scholar, he was
decorated three times for heroism as commander of an armor company in
Vietnam.
"Those of us who knew him as a captain thought the country would be
short-changed if he didn't rise to very high rank," said a retired Army
colonel who was a student of Clark's when Clark taught at West Point.
But Clark's kindergarten teacher probably noted that he doesn't play
well with others.
Clark "is able, though not nearly as able as he thinks, and has tended
to put his career ahead of his men to the point of excess," said a defense
consultant well acquainted with the Army's senior officers. "He is
opportunistic and lacks integrity. He will be an absolute menace if he
gets into a position where he can exert influence on the Army because
he lacks true vision and is prone to be vindictive."
Clark "regards each and every one of his subordinates as a potential
threat
to his career," said an officer who served under him when Clark
commanded a
brigade of the 4th Infantry Division in the 1980s. An officer who served
under Clark when he commanded the First Cavalry Division said he was
"the poster child for everything that is wrong with the general officer
corps."
Clark doesn't get along terribly well with superiors or with allies
either, which lead to his premature departure as commander of NATO.
Clark was CINCEUR when the Kosovo war began, and bears much of the
responsibility for President Clinton's decision to try to bomb Serb
dictator Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo. Clark ! argued that after a few
days of bombing, Milosevic would fold his tent and slink away. When
the Serbs didn't budge after months of bombing, Clark lost Clinton's
favor.
As the war dragged on, Clark advocated the use of ground troops. This
put him at loggerheads with Gen. Henry Shelton, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, and with Gen. Eric Shinseki, chief of staff of the
Army, who thought this was a terrible idea. These generals faulted
Clark for getting America into an unnecessary war, and for having
done a poor job of preparing for it.
"NATO did not expect a long war," wrote former Clinton national security
aide Ivo Daalder. "Worse, it did not even prepare for the possibility."
The conduct of the war drew unprecedented criticism from Clark's
predecessor, Gen. George Joulwan, and a quiet rebellion by subordinate
commanders.
"Clark found his control over ongoing operations eroding," wrote retired
Army Col. Andrew Bacevich. "Rather than the theater commander, he became
hardly more than a kibitzer."
What may have triggered Clark's early departure from NATO was a
confrontation with the British general who was to command NATO
peacekeepers.
After a Serb surrender had been negotiated with the help of the
Russians,> Clark ordered Sir Michael Ja! ckson to parachute troops
onto the airport at the Kosovar capital of Pristina, so that NATO would
hold it before Russian peacekeepers arrived.
Jackson refused. "I'm not going to start the third world war for you,"
he told Clark, according to accounts in British newspapers.
Shortly after the confrontation with Jackson, Clark was told his tour as
CINCEUR would end two months early. Neither Shelton nor Defense
Secretary William Cohen attended his retirement ceremony, a remarkable
snub for a four star general.
Clark read Milosevic wrong, helping to provoke the Kosovo war, which he
then fought badly. Clark picked up where he left off in his second
career as a television kibitzer of military operations. As an analyst for
CNN, Clark harshly criticized the war plan for Iraq devised by Gen.
Tommy Franks, the CENTCOM commander, and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld. Clark turned out to be completely wrong.

[mass55th]

"But after spending three hours interviewing the man for Maxim’s November issue, I’m impressed."

He probably would have said the same thing about Ted Bundy.

[sinkspur]

Maxim?

Nobody who buys their magazines at Wal-Mart will ever read this interview.

Maxim's a skin magazine.

[walden]

Does Hackworth actually have a constituency who listens to him anymore?

[Ben Bolt]

Hear him tell it . Best I can tell he has a pipeline to the vagina's who are on the dole for the wrong reason .

[Poohbah]

It's eerie but Hackworth reminds me a lot of Tom McClintock.

Hack's got better control of his eyes :o)

[Pokey78]

Friday, April 23, 1999

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Clark and Vietnam II

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By Col. David Hackworth

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© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

NATO's Wesley Clark is not the Iron Duke, nor is he Stormin' Norman. Unlike Wellington and Schwarzkopf, Clark's not a muddy boots soldier. He's a military politician, without the right stuff to produce victory over Serbia.

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.

Very much like generals Maxwell Taylor and William Westmoreland, the architect and carpenter of the Vietnam disaster, Clark was earmarked and then groomed early in his career for big things. At West Point he graduated No. 1 in his class, and even though the Vietnam War was raging and chewing up lieutenants faster than a machine gun can spit death, he was seconded to Oxford for two years of contemplating instead of to the trenches to lead a platoon.

A year after graduating Oxford, he was sent to Vietnam, where, as a combat leader for several months, he was bloodied and muddied. Unlike most of his classmates, who did multiple combat tours in the killing fields of Southeast Asia, he spent the rest of the war sheltered in the ivy towers of West Point or learning power games first hand as a White House fellow.

The war with Serbia has been going full tilt for almost a month and Clark's NATO is like a giant standing on a concrete pad wielding a sledgehammer crushing Serbian ants. Yet, with all its awesome might, NATO hasn't won a round. Instead, Milosevic is still calling all the shots from his Belgrade bunker, and all that's left for Clark is to react.

Milosevic plays the fiddle, and Clark dances the jig. Stormin' Norman or any good infantry sergeant major would have told Clark that conventional air power alone could never win a war -- it must be accompanied by boots on the ground.

German air power didn't beat Britain. Allied air power didn't beat Germany. More air power than was used against the Japanese and Germans combined didn't win in Vietnam. Forty-three days of pummeling in the open desert where there was no place to hide didn't KO Saddam. That fight ended only when Schwarzkopf unleashed the steel ground fist he'd carefully positioned before the first bomb fell.

Doing military things exactly backwards, the scholar general is now, according to a high ranking Pentagon source, in "total panic mode" as he tries to mass the air and ground forces he finally figured out he needs to win the initiative. Mass is a principle of war. Clark has violated this rule along with the other eight vital principles. Any mud soldier will tell you if you don't follow the principles of war you lose.

One of the salient reasons Wellington whipped Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo is that the Corsican piecemealed his forces. Clark's done the same thing with his air power. He started with leisurely pinpricks and now is attempting to increase the pain against an opponent with an almost unlimited threshold. Similar gradualism was one of the reasons for defeat in Vietnam.

Another mistake Clark's made is not knowing his enemy. Taylor and Westmoreland made this same error in Vietnam. Like the Vietnamese, the Serbs are fanatic warriors who know better than to fight conventionally in open formations. They'll use the rugged terrain and bomber bad weather to conduct the guerrilla operations they've been preparing for over 50 years. And they're damn good at partisan warfare. Just ask any German 70 years or older if a fight in Serbia will be another Desert Storm.

It's the smart general who knows when to retreat. If Clark lets pride stand in the way of military judgment, expect a long and bloody war.

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Col. David H. Hackworth, author of his new best-selling "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts," "Price of Honor" and "About Face," has seen duty or reported as a sailor, soldier and military correspondent in nearly a dozen wars and conflicts – from the end of World War II to the recent fights against international terrorism.
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=18431

[StockAyatollah]

As usual, "Hack", is all over the map. He is in need of serious retirement (which he has certainly earned). When Clark comes out with what will have to be Klintoon-style Marxist domestic policies, he will sound like just another rat. He has peaked already. He'll drop out of the campaign by not long after Iowa.

[Sparta]

Clark and Hack are both psychopaths.

[Peace will be here soon]

The extreme left wing of the dummocrat party will see this guy like they view any other military type, he`s a war monger. Clark may siphon off the middle of the road dummocrats, but the far left will reject him and will stick with Dean. If the wicked witch and Clark team up, there will be a stampede of Reagan Democrats running to GW in 2004. The only thing GW needs to do is keep his core happy , which has been waning. GW has been out of the spotlight for the most part ( except for tonight ) and once the campaign begins people will warm back up to him. Just my two cents.

[MHT]

Clark is a friggin' idiot. He lies like Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (I would have voted for the resolution...I wouldn't have voted for the resolution...I would have voted for the resolution). He helped plan the brutal killing of innocent American citizens at Waco. He claims not be a "military man", just a "soldier all his life". He doesn't know the issues, military budget, or anything else.

Furthermore, this is a real bravo sierra poll. Presidential elections are 50 little elections--and this is just a name-recognition poll, greatly enabled by his entry into the race two days earlier.

Honestly, and this is truly pathetic, Mosley-Braun says things that make more sense than the equivocating micro-managed sound bites coming out of this guy's mouth (and so far, they're not coming out that well).

[onehipdad]

That's nice: A comparison to the only US commander in history (to my knowledge) who took it upon himself to fire on loyal US WW1 veterans seeking the bonus promised them by Congress.

[300winmag]

Hackworth must have been writing about two different "Wesley Clarks". Either that, or Hitlery has FBI files on insignicant hack writers like Hack, too.

[txzman]

Hacworth - The Hack Without a Clue. Give him another day; he'll write another article with a completely new view.

[CholeraJoe]

Hack's brain damaged. Pity him.

[Recourse]

I have disagreed with Hackworth's editorials for some time. And I don;t think he knows much about global diplomacy or strategy. But would you agree that his list of medals and awards is, at the very least, remarkable? This guy is not a wuss, that's for sure.

Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Silver Star (with nine Oak Leaf Clusters)
Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal (with "V" Device & seven Oak Leaf Clusters)(Seven of the awards for heroism)
Purple Heart (with seven Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Medal (with "V" Device & Numeral 34)(One for heroism and 33 for aerial achievement)
Army Commendation Medal (w/ "V" Device & 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Good Conduct Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany and Japan Clasps)
National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star)
Korean Service Medal (with Service Stars for eight campaigns)
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal (2 Silver Service Stars = 10 campaigns)
Armed Forces Reserve Medal

[Travis McGee]

The Very Real Danger of Wes Clark (Vanity)

self | 21 September 2003 | FReeper "Matthew James" Posted on 09/22/2003 6:18 AM PDT by Matthew James

I've told a couple of friends this story over the past couple of years, and they've urged me to express it in a more public forum if General Wesley Clark ever threw his hat into the Presidential ring. So, in response to recent events...

I knew one of the liaison officers who was serving with the Russian Brigade in Bosnia. The Brigade has been there for several years, and works closely with the U.S./NATO. The U.S. military provides liaison officers who live with the Russians and serve as the direct contact conduit between the Russian and U.S./NATO command structure.

Clark was periodically in direct contact with these liaison officers, and they were able to see first-hand just how clueless and dangerous this guy really is.

Whenever referring to the Russians, Clark repeatedly referred to them as the "Soviets," and didn't seem to understand that they were [ostensibly] working with NATO. His conversations always gave the impression that he had no clue that the Cold War ended back in 1991.

NATO had indications that the Russians may decide that they wanted their own piece of land to administer in Kosovo. They've historically always supported their "Slav brethren" in the Balkans, and desperately want to be seen as a player on the world stage again.

So when Wesley received word that it looked like the Russians might move from their area in Bosnia, and head for Kosovo, he ordered this liaison officer, "Don't allow the Soviets to leave their compound."

So the liaison officer went to see the Russian Brigade Commander, and passed on Clark's desire that the Russians not leave. The Commander answered something to the effect that Russia will do what it thinks it needs to in the region, and that he would follow the orders of his superiors.

When this was passed along to Clark, he went nuts. Clark berated the liaison officer, and said that it was the officer's duty not to allow the Russians to leave their compound!

When the officer told Clark that the Russians were already lining up their combat vehicles he really started bouncing off the walls. The officer asked Clark how he expected the Brigade to be stopped by only one person armed with a 9mm pistol. Clark said, "I don't care what you have to do, just don't let them leave their compound!"

At that point the Russians were already lined up in a column that stretched though the gates of their compound. Upon hearing this Clark mentioned a bridge that they'd have to cross shortly after leaving the compound, and told the liaison officer to do "whatever it takes to keep the Soviets from crossing that bridge!"

Obviously, short of starting a shooting war with the Russians, there was nothing that the liaison officer could do. The Russian column rolled, and the rest is history.

This one episode is the tip of the iceberg. I'v heard a great many stories from people who have worked directly for Clark, and the guy is power-crazy and dangerous.

And don't believe the stories about how "smart" he is. Yes, he graduated first in his class at West Point, and went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. But surely you've known someone who gets straight "A's" without hardly trying, yet has no common sense. That's Wes Clark; and add to that an unquenchable desire for power.

Don't believe me? Read his book [Waging Modern War]. Knowing the inside story before reading it really helped me see his character, but there's enough there for anyone to see what a moron Clark truely is.

Here's one example: I've read a great many books by senior officers. What do the good ones always mention? --Their staffs. They realize that they are successful because of how good their staff is, and how they as a leader interface with that staff. How many times does Wesley even mention his staff throughout the book? --NEVER. But he points out how great he is by making important decisions with no help all the time.

There's information out there. Find it; read it; then you decide.

***************************************

(I will vouch for "Matthew James" bona fides. -Travis Mcgee/Matt Bracken)