The Boomerang Effect: Gen. Wesley Clark’s Character Flaw

Bob Newman

On 14 February 2006 at 10:15AM ET on FOX News Channel, disgraced retired US Army general and one-time presidential candidate Wesley Clark demonstrated why he was fired by then Secretary of Defense William Cohen from his last post for integrity violations and character issues.

It had and still has to do with judgment and knowing the difference between right and wrong.

The discredited ex-soldier stated very clearly, even after being asked for verification by the show anchor, Brigitte Quinn, that the United States must negotiate with the terrorist government of Iran before using military force to prevent the mad mullahs from building nuclear warheads.
Iran's maniacal terrorist government held dozens of Americans hostage from 1979-1981. They then helped form Hezbollah, which carried out the attacks on the US Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. The Iranian government still funds, trains and otherwise supports Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Hundreds of Americans have been killed by Iran's Hezbollah.

Today, Iran's Revolutionary Guards are killing US military personnel in Iraq by smuggling more sophisticated detonation systems and "shape charges" (explosives with directed blasts) into Iraq for use against our armed forces.

And Wes Clark says they are so honorable an enemy that we should sit down at the negotiating table with them.

An American general joins the braying herd of terrorist coddlers.

Were Patton alive, he would be beating Clark senseless.

One can not rid oneself of ingrained character flaws. The same flaw that caused General Shelton to ask for and quickly receive Clark’s firing by Secretary Cohen, has now manifested itself again in the boomerang effect: you can pretend to be free of the device, but it’s really only a matter of time before the thing comes back at you. (Shelton said of Clark: “I've known Wes for a long time. 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.” This comment was remarked upon by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf: "I think the greatest condemnation against him . . . came from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he was a NATO commander. I mean, he was fired as a NATO commander.”)

Just how short of the mark must one’s integrity and character be to be very publicly fired as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO?

How fouled up must one be to have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff dismiss a fellow general, in the same service no less?

Well, now we know.

Clark is the first general in American military history I am aware of to recommend that negotiating with terrorists is a sound and ethical policy. Of course, dishonored retired Marine Reserve Colonel John Murtha continues to demand that we first retreat, then surrender to al Qaeda in Iraq and follow up with direct negotiations with the enemy, which may mean Clark has been taking notes from the pariah Marine officer. It appears these two studied at the same school of strategy founded by Marshal Philippe Pétain in 1940 France. (Pétain was the traitorous leader of the Vichy government who was sentenced to death for treason but had his sentence commuted to life in prison by Charles de Gaulle.)

Clark is a classic in that he suffers from Napoleon Syndrome (he is quite lacking in physical stature) and a remarkable absence of command presence, which partially explain his humiliating run for president that went down so quickly in defeat. Americans picked up on Clark’s shortcomings and easily recognized that this is not the kind of man Americans need as commander in chief during time of war, or any other time, presumably.
MacArthur said: “ . . . old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

It is far past the time for Clark to fade away.

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Bob Newman, a decorated, retired US Marine, is host of the “Gunny Bob Show” on Newsradio 850 KOA in Denver, and host of “Anger-Management Hour” on 630 KHOW, also in Denver. A ground-combat veteran, he is the director of international security & counterterrorism services for The GeoScope Group and is the military science & terrorism columnist for The Denver Daily News. He can be reached at bobnewman@clearchannel.com.

bobnewman@clearchannel.com