Clark, military families: Bush wrong on Iraq war
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The former candidate speaks at St. Norbert
By Ray Barrington
News-Chronicle
gogreenbay.com
Former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark and family members of soldiers in Iraq told an audience at St. Norbert College on Tuesday that President Bush was on the wrong track in invading that country and new leadership was needed.
"This nation's in trouble. We have embarked on the wrong course of action to deal with the threat of international terrorism," Clark said.
Clark and three women either married to or the mothers of soldiers talked to just over a hundred people, mostly students and retired people, at the beginning of a tour sponsored by a group calling itself "Win Back Respect."
The group is sponsoring a TV ad campaign with the tag line "Bush misled us into war." The first ad, which is to air in Wisconsin starting today, features Martha Jo McCarthy, a New Hampshire woman whose husband, a reservist with field artillery experience, was pressed into service as a military policeman in Iraq. He is still there.
"His M.P. training before he left did not include anything about guarding detainees. That does not seem like a strong leadership decision. And it's indicative of the problems we have over there because we don't have enough troops."
She said she had supported military action in Afghanistan even though her husband would be involved. "We felt it absolutely had to be done," she said.
"We have 15,000 troops in Afghanistan now, and 120,000 in Iraq. Where is Osama bin Laden?" she asked.
She agreed with Clark that the war in Iraq was not making Americans safer.
Clark, who ran in the Democratic presidential primaries but dropped out after early defeats, said the path the Bush administration was taking was only making the problem worse. It was ignoring homeland security, such as port inspections and airport security, while dealing with Iraq, he said.
He said Saddam Hussein was somebody who deserved to be removed from power, but that from his experience, "he was not the worst threat we faced. The most dangerous threat was Osama bin Laden ... all of us in senior positions knew this."
And, he said, "Bush blew them (officials) off. There's no other way to say it. He didn't do his homework."
He said neoconservatives in the Republican Party had wanted to attack Saddam Hussein both to embarrass Democrats and as part of a deal with a faction in Israel.
He said he had visited the Pentagon shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and was told by another general, "If (Saddam) didn't do it, he should have because we're gonna get him anyway. The administration's already made its decision ... because they don't know what to do about terrorism and we have a powerful military."
"It's like if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem has to be a nail."
He said the U.S. was neglecting the North Korea nuclear problem and was moving troops out of that area because they were needed in Iraq, taking away a bargaining chip.
Clark did not mention John Kerry during his speech, but did say he backed Kerry when a student asked why Kerry would be a better choice after voting against defense project and spending on troops.
"He's a very tough-minded guy who does his homework," Clark said. "He will not make bad snap decisions like the incumbent has done."
Clark added that most representatives had voted "at one time or another" to reduce defense spending and that some of the Kerry votes were supportive of requests from Vice President Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, to vote against certain programs, although Clark did not give specifics.
The other two women, calling themselves the "band of sisters," were Jeri Sheese of Indiana, whose husband recently returned, and Jane Jensen of Fitchburg, whose son is currently serving.
Sheese expressed her concern about the reasons for entering Iraq, while Jensen said she was against the "backdoor draft," the continuing returning of reservists and National Guard troops to the battlefield. |
