WES CLARK MADE CASE FOR IRAQ WAR BEFORE CONGRESS
From Drudge Report:
Two months ago Democratic hopeful Wesley Clark declared in a debate that he has always been firmly against the current Iraq War. "Iâve been very consistent... Iâve been against this war from the beginning," the former general said in Detroit on October 26. "I was against it last summer, I was against it in the fall, I was against it in the winter, I was against it in the spring. And Iâm against it now."
Guess you must have forgotten this, Wes:
Less than 18 months ago, Wesley Clark offered his testimony before the Committee On Armed Services at the U.S. House Of Representatives. "Thereâs no requirement to have any doctrine here. I mean this is simply a longstanding right of the United States and other nations to take the actions they deem necessary in their self defense," Clark told Congress on September 26, 2002. "Every president has deployed forces as necessary to take action. Heâs done so without multilateral support if necessary. Heâs done so in advance of conflict if necessary. In my experience, I was the commander of the European forces in NATO. When we took action in Kosovo, we did not have United Nations approval to do this and we did so in a way that was designed to preempt Serb ethnic cleansing and regional destabilization there. There were some people who didnâ t agree with that decision. The United Nations was not able to agree to support it with a resolution." Clark continued: "Thereâs no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat... Yes, he has chemical and biological weapons. Heâs had those for a long time. But the United States right now is on a very much different defensive posture than we were before September 11th of 2001... He is, as far as we know, actively pursuing nuclear capabilities, though he doesnât have nuclear warheads yet. If he were to acquire nuclear weapons, I think our friends in the region would face greatly increased risks as would we."
More Clark: "And, I want to underscore that I think the United States should not categorize this action as preemptive. Preemptive and that doctrine has nothing whatsoever to do with this problem. As Richard Perle so eloquently pointed out, this is a problem thatâs longstanding. Itâs been a decade in the making. It needs to be dealt with and the clock is ticking on this." Clark explained: "I think thereâs no question that, even though we may not have the evidence as Richard [Perle] says, that there have been such contacts [between Iraq and al Qaeda]. Itâs normal. Itâs natural. These are a lot of bad actors in the same region together. They are going to bump into each other. They are going to exchange information. Theyâre going to feel each other up out and see whether there are opportunities to cooperate. Thatâs inevitable in this region, and I think itâs clear that regardless of whether or not such evidence is produced of these connections that Saddam Hussein is a threat." Say goodbye, Wes.
Posted by: Steve 2004-01-15 |