Many times I have come to catch up on the news here on Dailykos, and have read diaries/remarks from folks who just cannot understand why the General has such a loyal internet following and leads in all of Kos' 2008 Presidential polls.
There are thousands of excellent reasons why so many of us have stayed loyal to Wes Clark and his "politics" for the past 2+ years but today we have one example of why. The General communicates with us. When we have important questions, he answers them.
Today at the Clark
Community Network (aka CCN - the clarkies' community blog since the beginning of the campaign) the General came a-blogging to answer our questions about Iraq.
General Clark on Iraq - beneath the fold......
General Wes Clark......
Hi everyone!
I'm back in the office in Little Rock for a rare three days at home, and just wanted to thank all of you for your support, and for following the issues so closely.
I particularly appreciated your thoughts on Iraq, and your ideas and suggestions.
I've been working on Iraq pretty intensively for some months, and I want to tell you about some of this. First, I was called up to DC to brief the Senate Democratic Policy Committee in July. And I met a couple of times with former SecDef Bill Perry, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and former SecState Madeleine Albright over the summer, too.
I was concerned that the Administration wasn't very forthcoming with the facts about the state of our effort in Iraq, and so I was calling for a set of "benchmarks" which could guide the withdrawal....And preparing to write some, if the administration wouldn't produce these. We had them during the Bosnia operation of course. Congress demanded them!
Then I realized that we really have no authority in Iraq...none, except that the Iraq government has said we can stay. There's no legal mandate, apparently, now that we've turned back authority to the Iraqis. So the the idea of benchmarks on issues like, rule of law, effective local governments, trained judges and functioning courts...is sort of meaningless....though of course we'd like to see progress in each of these areas.
At the same time, I've been frustrated that since June, when I was attacked by the Wall Street Journal editorial saying that I and other Democrats have no strategy. I wrote out my strategy -again- and sent it to them, but it wasn't published.
Of course, it is hard for democrats to have a strategy, since Democrats don't have access to the information, and since the strategy is really the responsiblilty of the party in power.
But never mind, I updated my views last weekend and sent them in...Hopefully they'll be published soon, in a different newspaper.
In the meantime, I'm doing my best on fox to get across the idea that you can't fix Iraq just by working inside Iraq - - you have to deal with Iraq's neighbors.
The clock is ticking against us...
But I don't believe it's totally lost there yet...we can at least avoid a regional war if we work the right way now...so I don't favor a pullout, an announcement of a pull-out, or a timeline for exiting yet....though I am certainly sympathetic to those who want this thing over.
As I've said from the beginning, going into Iraq was a strategic blunder. But if we come out the wrong way we'll make matters worse.
then a poster asked
Gen. Clark, I've been very concerned lately that the Democratic Party seems to be breaking apart over this issue. Do you have insight and maybe some guidance for us?
The General's reply
You're right to be concerned. But this is why we set up WesPAC, to provide a strong national security voice in the party. We have to be out there enough, and cogent enough, to capture the support of the majority of the party. there's no other way to do it....and there's a lot to be discouraged about in Iraq. But the truth is, we just can't pull out yet....we have to do the best we can with the mission at this point....
another poster asked
General Clark, do you worry that we're splitting hairs over this? I mean, really, almost no one is advocating immediate pullout. And, yet, at least online, we're killing each other over the difference between what you propose and "pulling out."
The General's reply
Actually, there is a pretty wide spread on the views I'm hearing expressed, and some are advocating pulling out, while others just want a date certain. I think the most important thing to understand that "stay the course" is just a slogan - it's not a strategy. We're going against smart, adaptive opponents in Iraq, who are handling many different aspects of frutrating what they perceive to be our aims in the region. So we have to have a real strategy. and the American people have to support it...and we can't support what we don't understand, so, we really do need the debate. it's not bad, so long as people are respectful of each other, to have discussions and disagreements.
another question..
Dear General Clark: I think Bush may have messed things up beyond fixing. I think that window you mentioned a long time ago may have closed. I do appreciate that you are putting your smarts and knowledge to work on this though. I do hope people will listen.
The General's reply re "window"
I think there's still an alternative to simply executing a fighting withdrawal. let's see if we can help them create a Constitution, and create a trained force to carry on the fighting, and while we"re doing that we can work with Iraq's neighbors. i agree we will never get American style Democracy....nor will Iraq's "democracy" spread thr0ughout the region. the time for all that inflated rhetoric is over..but there's still an opportunity to avoid a terribly damaging regional failure.
I've got to sign of now. again, thansk to all opf you for being here, and for caring about our country.
wes
Complete dialog at http://wes-clark.forclark.com/story/2005/8/25/172613/872
And if you have questions for the General?:
General Wes Clark will be the guest blogger at TPMCAFE Table For One Auguest 29th to Sept 2nd
http://www.tpmcafe.com/
Update
August 26, 1:00 PM CDT
General Clark will be blogging on the Washington Post website
Start: Aug 26 2005 - 1:00pm
End: Aug 26 2005 - 1:45pm
1:00PM CDT: Opinion Focus: Iraq Strategy
Please join General Clark at www.washingtonpost.com