General Cornered

[Ivo Skoric]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/26/1632224

Right before democratic primiaries in the New Hampshire, the 
independent U.S. radio program "Democracy Now" asked retired general 
Wesley Clark some tough in-depth questions about his role of supreme 
NATO commander in the Operation Allied Force (1999 bombing of 
Yugoslavia). Why was the Serbian state TV high-rise deliberately hit 
killing 16 civilians? Would he use depleted uranium and cluster bombs 
in the future, despite the evidence that DU raises cancer rate in 
bomved society and unexploded cluster ammo kills children for years 
to come? Why was that bridge hit despite the cockpit video obviously 
showing an incoming passenger train? And why was that video played 
for US media later at tripple the speed, if not to attempt to prove 
that the pilot had no time to react? Clark was on defensive. 

Why is this an important piece? Clark is indeed cleared of any 
wrongdoing by the ICTY chief prosecutor. And OAF can pass as a 
military operation with relatively low rate of collateral damage. DN 
questions do not make look Clark like a war criminal. But they do 
make him look inconsistent. How could possibly he criticize Bush's 
war on Iraq, if he not only followed orders, but actively lobbied for 
those orders to come, in the case of Yugoslavia? In the event of him 
running against Bush, Bush campaign can easily ridicule him as an 
opportunist and hypocrite: guy switches allegiances easier than some 
other guys switch shoes. He votes for Reagan and Bush I, then he 
embraces Michael Moore. He muses about bad war against Hussein, yet 
he defends his good war against Milosevic, as if what Saddam did to 
Kurds is not comparable (and even worse than) to what Slobodan did to 
Kosovo Albanians.

I could see Rowe endlessly exploit that Clark's weak point. DNC 
better has that in mind.

ivo