There has been some confusion about Clark's concept. Some see it as a Stay the Course. It could only be viewed this way by someone who hasn't read what he has been saying. Some see it as a Changing the Course but that it has no viability since Clark is (sadly) not president and Bush will not follow his advice. This is closer to the truth, but misses one essential point. CLARK IS ENUNCIATING WHAT DEMOCRATS HAVE NOT DONE - AN
EXIT STRATEGY. Clark is telling how we can get out of Iraq without leaving it totally at the mercy of the terrorists, letting it fall further into a civil war, threatening neighboring countries, and destabilizing the whole Middle East and therefore the world.
Clark has given us the blueprint for a strategic retreat that leaves an independent Iraq that is not the tool of Iran. It is not a victory in the military sense, but it is a diplomatic and political retreat that involves other nations, near and far. The military aspects are not left out, but they are not the prime ingredients since our armies were never designed to shore up foreign governments of whatever strip.
Here is what the Village Voices has:
Wesley Clark Sketches an Exit Plan for Iraq
CarolNYC's picture
Posted by CarolNYC on September 23, 2005 - 10:58pm.
From the Village Voice:
Wesley Clark Sketches an Exit Plan for Iraq
Meanwhile, Charles Rangel talks impeachment
by Sarah Ferguson
September 23rd, 2005 10:54 PM
The grief and outrage that Cindy Sheehan and the other dissenting military families have evoked this week in Washington, D.C., is palpable, as is the evidence they muster of just how careless this administration was in putting their loved ones at risk for the Iraq war.
But in calling for an immediate withdrawal, the peace movement can't duck a central question: Just how do we leave?
On Friday, Sheehan appeared on a Congressional Black Caucus breakfast panel with General Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander and presidential hopeful, who was there to address the issue of whether the U.S. can "win" the war in Iraq.
"We're involved in a war that we didn't have to fight. That's the simple truth," Clark said. "Now it's in trouble, deep trouble. I wish it was just as simple as saying, Mr. President, you made a mistake, get those troops out now."
The trouble is, he continued, that the Islamic extremists "really do want to attack us. Getting out of Iraq will be a great defeat for us unless we do it in the right way."
Clark is not enunciating Staying the Course, but is avoiding the Cut and Run for a strategic withdrawal that is not a "bloody retreat" as he has called it.
Clark said the anti-war movement should demand that Bush establish a "regional dialogue with other Arab states, including people we don't like, like Syria and Iran," and focus on "changing the minds and cutting off the recruiting" of those now blowing up tanks and buses in Iraq.
"We need to turn off the flow of weapons and fighters going into Iraq and turn off the invective and fears and create a climate where the Iraqis don't need to fight each other," he said. "And then we can come home."
Speaking of the expected 100,000 strong anti-war march on Saturday, Clark told Sheehan and the other military families arrayed in the audience that they should "march with the flag, because this is about the future of America."
It was all too much for Carlos Arredondo of Roslindale, Massachusetts, who lost his 20-year-old son in Iraq. He ran up to the podium holding a hand-lettered "IMPEACH" sign.
Clark smiled and shook his head. "This should not be a partisan issue," he said. "America is only strong when we come together. This is really about changing the direction this country is heading in. We have to bring people together from all walks of life."
At this, Charles Rangel, the moderator, stepped in: "I've been here 35 years, and I know impeachment when I see it," said the New York congressman. "If the president knew there were no weapons of mass destruction and knew there was no connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and if the president knew the Iraqis were not involved in the attack on the twin towers and still allowed our nation to believe that we had to invade Iraq for it, then I'm a lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, and these are impeachable offenses," he said, to a burst of applause from the audience.
When it was her turn to speak, Sheehan stuck to her demand that we get out now. "Yes, there are people who want to kill us. But they want to kill us because we're killing innocent Arabs and Muslims," she said. "I'm afraid we're creating enemies that are going to endanger my grandchildren. That's why I do what I do.
"Right now they're spending billions of dollars building military bases in Iraq the size of Sacramento," Sheehan continued. "If there's one thing we as a peace movment have to agree on, it's that we have to get out of Iraq now, as soon as possible, because these maniacs plan on our children never coming home."
Clark spoke with Cindy, and if you have been following Clark's comments, he has spoken in support of her. What other potential candidate for 2008 has done this? Note that Sheehan's qualification, "as soon as possible", is not antithetical to what Clark has to say.
Noel