Ex-Military Leaders Speak of Clark Flaws
Sat Oct 11, 1:36 PM ET
story.news.yahoo.com
By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Wesley Clark, the retired four-star general who is
running for president, got himself in hot water with his Pentagon bosses
more than once in his 34-year military career.
Clark matter-of-factly recounts a time when
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was
so irked he grumbled that Clark had "one foot
on a banana peel and one foot in the grave."
As it turned out, less than a year later Clark
was yanked out of his job as NATO's
Supreme Allied Commander early, his military
career abruptly over.
Plenty of generals in the U.S. military have
been chewed out, of course. And plenty of
Clark's former colleagues in the military speak
highly of him. But it is notable that a number
of fellow retired officers now speak frankly
about what they see as his shortcomings as
a leader.
The man who vaulted to the head of the
Democratic pack since declaring his candidacy three weeks ago is
running on the luster of a standout career that took him from first in his
class at West Point to a Silver Star earned in Vietnam to the top ranks
of Pentagon brass.
Heated disputes over strategy and tactics, particularly during combat,
are inevitable among officers at that level, but not questions about
personal ethics.
So it raised eyebrows last month when the former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs, retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, gave a barbed answer when asked
what he thought about Clark as a presidential candidate.
"I've known Wes for a long time," Shelton said. "I will tell you the reason
he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character
issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. ... I'll just say
Wes won't get my vote."
The general has since declined to elaborate. Clark responded that he
and Shelton had had "professional disagreements and for him they
became personal."
At the time of Clark's early recall from his NATO tenure in 1999, the
Pentagon said he was relieved of command simply to make way for
another officer waiting to assume the position. It was Shelton who broke
the news to Clark.
Several other retired officers, while crediting Clark for tremendous
intellect and determination, also raise questions about trustworthiness
and whether his personal ambition and drive to succeed caused him to
overstep his bounds and go outside the established chain of command.
Retired Gen. Dennis Reimer, a former Army chief of staff, describes
Clark as an intelligent, "hardworking, ambitious individual who really
applies himself hard."
But, Reimer said, "Some of us were concerned about the fact that he
was focused too much upward and not down on the soldiers. I've always
believed you ought to be looking down toward your soldiers and not up at
how to please your boss. ... I just didn't see enough of that in Wes."
Clark, for his part, acknowledges he had conflicts with former Defense
Secretary William Cohen and some top Pentagon officials. He attributes
that in his memoir to pushing relentlessly against the military's "innate
conservatism" to accomplish his assigned missions, particularly in
Bosnia and during the 1999 Kosovo campaign.
Ret. Army Brig. Gen. David Grange, the U.S. commander in Bosnia at
that time, says Clark was so focused on succeeding that "he would
maybe not be cognizant of some of the feelings or concerns of some of
the people around him."
"There's no question that General Clark is for General Clark," said
Grange, who added nonetheless that Clark had always treated him well
personally.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Marc Cisneros recalls hearing that Clark was
competing against him in 1996 for a four-star position heading the U.S.
Southern Command, a job for which the Army was backing Cisneros.
Cisneros says Clark "just outright lied" when confronted, and denied to
Cisneros that he was seeking the job, which did go to Clark. "I worry
about his ethical standards regarding honesty and forthrightness,"
Cisneros said.
Clark campaign spokesman Matt Bennett said no one, particularly a
high achiever such as Clark, can go through a 34-year career without
ruffling some feathers or bruising egos. Further, the campaign pointed to
a number of former generals who speak well of Clark.
Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who has known Clark
for decades and counts him a friend, said one source
of friction comes from the fact that Clark the intellect
was not a natural fit in the Army culture. But he
says Clark nonetheless proved himself a kind and
capable leader.
"Look, for 34 years when there was a tough problem
the local leadership asked Wes Clark to take on the
problem," McCaffrey said. "This guy has been
incredibly successful at doing the country's
business."
Two other retired lieutenant generals who worked
with Clark, Dan Christman and Don Kerrick, said
friction involving Clark was to be expected as he tried
to balance the interests of NATO allies and the
United States.
"We knew that he was a man of his word and that he
would deliver what we expected," said Kerrick, who
was deputy national security adviser to President
Clinton when Clark was at NATO. |
