- 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.
-
- The address of David Hackworth's home page is Hackworth.com.
Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send
mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is "Steel
My Soldiers' Hearts."
-
- © 2003 David H. Hackworth.
-
-
- Comment
- From Pete Wagner
- 9-29-3
-
- This also shows a man who would risk and ultimately give
American blood (his and no doubt his people's) for a very dubious international
cause, because the higher ups ordered it. My vote would go elsewhere in
these times.
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