Soldiering on for Wesley Clark

I'm a 20+ year Army veteran, and I have a son who is a senior airman currently on active duty. I entered active service in 1977, so while I served with quite a few draftees, mostly I'm a product of the "All Volunteer" force.

I'm support Wes Clark and believe no one is as qualified, by ability experience or character to lead this country. But Wes Clark does NOT support a return to the draft. This is one area where I disagree with him.

My reasons for supporting the draft are basically these:

1) A nation should never go to war unless it's willing to commit all its resources to the endeavor. If it ain't important enough for everyone to sacrifice, it ain't worth fighting. A small professional military makes it far too easy for the government to engage in military adventurism without the civilian population giving a damn. Pretty much what we have now.

I strongly believe that if we had a draft, there would be a lot more pressure on the administration to get out of Iraq, a greater demand to hold them accountable for their incompetence there, and probably a lot more public discussion and thoughtfulness before we went there in the first place. And yeah, I know it took many years and far too many deaths for sentiment against the Vietnam War to formulate, but this is a different time, with different attitudes and much better communications about what's really going on in distant lands.

My dear friend Gordon Suber writes this insightful analysis of how the battlelines are being drawn over escalation in Iraq:

2007: It’s Clark versus McCain By Gordon Suber January 9, 2007

President George W. Bush will tell the American people why it is necessary to escalate the Iraq war, adding 20,000 American troops.

Writing in the Washington Post last Sunday, former presidential candidate (2000), Senator John McCain wrote that a small, short surge is a terrible idea. He advocates a larger number, for a longer period.

Writing in the Washington Post last Monday, former presidential candidate (2004) and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Wesley K. Clark set forth why he believes a surge in troops in Baghdad is a terrible idea. He advocates diplomacy.

None of us knows who will be battling for the presidency in 2008, but what I know now is that when it comes to finding a solution in Iraq in 2007, it's Clark versus McCain.

Wes Clark was a guest on Hannity & Colmes the evening after Bush's State of the Union address. And soft pudgy too-good-to-enlist Sean Hannity presumes to lecture the four-star general and decorated combat veteran on military strategy?

Un-effin'-believable.

There's a video of the relevant piece at Crooks & Liars, or you can watch the whole interview at WesPAC's website. But here's what Hannity said:

Last weekend, the Democratic National Committee held its annual Winter Meeting and, as frequently happens in election years (even tho 2007 is not technically not), it included a "cattle call" of all the presidential candidates for 2008, to include, as party chairman Dean called him, the imminent candidate General Wesley Clark.

One by one, the presidential wannabes took the podium, in randomly assigned order, and extolled the audience as to why Democrats should nominate them to the highest office in the land (and a house worth I dare say more than even John Edwards').

But only one seized upon the platform as an opportunity to once again remind Democrats, as well as an expected TV audience (pre-empted by tornadoes in Florida), of those the aspirants would seek to lead, when he began the meat of his speech with:

But before I say anything else, I want you to take just a moment and reflect quietly, on the sacrifices that are being made by our troops in uniform and their families. [moment of silence]

You could have heard a pin drop in that room.

It's not the people trying to bring them home.

The front page of the local rag carried a large photo above the fold two days ago. It was taken by John Moore of Getty Images, and accompanied an article about our military manpower problems. Hard to believe, but I can't find the photo on-line. It's simple to describe though. On a blank wall outside a Marine Corps civil affairs office in Ramadi Iraq was scribbled these words, writ large in an easy blue script:

UPDATE: I found the photo.

(John Moore/Getty Images)

...before it starts?

We are on the verge of war with Iran, and most of America doesn't even know it.

But make no mistake. George W. Bush wants to attack Iran.

The Sunday Times of London reports:

SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.

Yesterday I wrote,

There is no doubt at all that many many people who could have made a difference [during the Vietnam era], chose not to, and lived to regret it.
I only hope the generals in the Pentagon today won't look back in ten or twenty years and feel the same way.

How ironic that just this morning on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, I hear David Margolick, the author of a new article in Vanity Fair about the generals who spoke out to call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in April 2006.

Particularly striking is a quote from Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, who was the Director for Operations on the Joint Staff in 2002. Describing a pre-invasion planning meeting where Rumsfeld had "summarily dismissed [a 500,000 troop estimate because s]urely 125,000 would suffice," Newbold now says,

"I should have had the gumption to confront him. The right thing to do was to confront, and I didn't. It's something I'll have to live with for a long time."

In an interview on Democracy Now! last week, General Clark spoke about closing the prison at Guantanamo and repealing the Military Commissions Act:

AMY GOODMAN: General Clark, do you think Guantanamo Bay should be closed?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Absolutely.

AMY GOODMAN: If Congress cut off funds for the prison there, it would be closed. Should they?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think the first thing Congress should do is repeal the Military Commissions Act. I’m very disturbed that a number of people who are looking at the highest office in the land have supported an act which advertently or inadvertently authorizes the admission into evidence of information gained through torture. That's not the America that I believe in. And the America that I believe in doesn't detain people indefinitely without charges. So I’d start with the Military Commissions Act.

Wes Clark is the last American general to win a war, one that was fought entirely within the framework of a true international alliance, and resulted in not a single allied combat casualty. He is also a veteran of counterinsurgency warfare in Vietnam, where he was wounded four times while commanding troops in battle, and awarded both the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions which saved the lives of his men under enemy attack.

Jon Soltz is a veteran and former captain, who completed a tour in Iraq, served with General Clark in Europe, and.returned from the Middle East to organize VoteVets.org, an organization dedicated to electing veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Congress, and in helping candidates pledged to support the troops, both those deployed and the returning vets who are dependent upon military and VA medical care. VoteVets.org produced and aired a number of effective ads during the 2006 election cycle, probably the best known of which is the Body Armor ad which helped defeat Senators George Allen of Virginia, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and Jim Talent of Missouri.

Together, they have recorded this video where they tell us about the military implications of an attack on Iran, both from a general's strategic perspective, and a captain's tactical experience.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch.
Then sign up to help Stop the Iran War. While there's still time.

Iraq War veteran Jon Soltz introduced General Wes Clark last night at a New York City forum sponsored by Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century. The two of them have worked closely together on many projects, the most recent being an effort to stop a war with Iran before it starts.

But what struck me most in the former Captain Soltz' introduction, as reported by Bouldin at his Daily Gotham blog, was the description of this event:

[When Jon] came back from Iraq, he was approached by a veteran of World War II, asking to shake his hand. This veteran of an earlier war had in turn once shaken the hand of a veteran of the Civil War; and that man long before had once, when very young, shaken the hand of a man who had taken part in the American Revolution. That's an unbroken chain of patriots who fought for everything this country holds dear, going back to the founding. It is precisely this tradition of honorable service that is today being dragged through the mud by the cabal of draft-dodgers in the White House.

"An unbroken chain of patriots... dragged through the mud by a cabal of draft-dodgers. "

That's exactly right.

Spooks. Intelligence collectors. Agents and handlers. Interceptors and radar operators. Long range reconnaissance. First in and last out of any war zone, potential or actual. Out in front of friendly defenses. Sometimes under cover, without uniforms and therefore, without Geneva Convention protection.

But even when they don't wear uniforms, they serve our country and protect our freedoms. They do it for little pay, often no recognition at all, and sometimes at risk of making the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duty.

The first American casualty in the War on Terror was CIA operative Mike Spann. And over forty years before, the first American to die in Vietnam was Army Specialist James T. Davis a signal intercept operator working under cover for the National Security Agency.

So no one, NO ONE, can claim to support "the troops" and not give a damn about the men and women who collect the intelligence that lets the rest of the troops do their jobs.

But that's exactly what I heard from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee last week as they questioned witnesses concerning the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson.

Now available for pre-order from amazon.com, A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country, by Wesley K. Clark, scheduled for release September 18, 2007.

An excerpt:

I scanned left and right, hoping they weren’t maneuvering around us. I could tell something was wrong with my foot – it wasn’t moving right, and now I could see the broken bone sticking out of my hand. I wasn’t in pain, but I really didn’t want to be right here, right now – not like this. For an awful instant I remembered my three month old son at home, my son whom I hadn’t even seen yet.

No, it wasn’t going to end like this, and I suppressed the thought.

Focus. Fight. Take charge.

“Get that gun going!” I shouted again, as I looked back under my left arm and saw the first troops come across the little footbridge. They were here. And they came running, those peace-symbol-lovin’, foul-cussin’, war-hatin’, draftee American soldiers came, right into the firefight. They came right into the smack of the bullets, and the whine of the ricochets. They were called forward, and they came! God, I loved them.

I remember those soldiers.

When John McCain wants to find out how things are going over in Iraq, he flies over in a military aircraft on the taxpayers' dime, walks around the Green Zone with a maximum of US military protection, also on the taxpayers' dime, and talks to soldiers and marines hand-picked by the chain of command to answer his questions. One wonders what he expects to hear, and whether it isn't something like what he wants to hear, but I guess it's hard to fault him for not knowing any real GIs up close and personal.

Democratic congressman Patrick Murphy, on the other hand, can talk to the very real soldiers he served with in Iraq, some of whom are still there. According to an op/ed by Francis Clines in last Sunday's New York Times, one of those soldiers is Sergeant Juan Santiago of the 82nd Airborne. Hooah SGT Santiago.

Another "Fighting Dem," Congressman (and retired Colonel) Jack Murtha nails it:

Interesting to hear the gentleman say 'we,' 'we fight,' 'we aren't gonna give up,' 'we aren't gonna surrender.' Let me tell you something. We aren't fighting this war. It's the troops overseas... Don't tell me we're fighting in this air conditioned office. We're not fighting this war; they're fighting it! And I'm proud of every one of them!"

(C-SPAN, by way of BradBlog.com)

Once more mega-kudos are in order to VoteVets, one of the few veterans organizations that puts the welfare of the troops ahead of partisan politics.

Jon Soltz -- Iraq War Veteran, Co-Founder and Chairman of VoteVets -- writes:

The first in the series of three ads features VoteVets.org Advisory Board Member, Major General (ret.) John Batiste, who was commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division from August 2002-June 2005. During this time frame, he conducted combat operations in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Batiste twice voted for President Bush and is a lifelong Republican. If you like this ad, then you're going to love what we have coming up in about a week, from Major General Paul Eaton. And, then the ad featuring General Clark after that. That's fitting, because it is General Clark who paved the way for other retired brass to speak out.

Now watch the video....

Don't the Republicans complain that if the American public could hear about the good stuff going on in Iraq, we would be more supportive of the president's war policy? That it is Democrats who have led the American people to believe the war is a lost cause by making sure the liberal media only tells us when bad stuff happens?

So how come the Bush administration is now prohibiting enlisted soldiers, "junior" officers (05 and below!), and even career DoD civilians -- in other words, anyone who's not a political appointee -- from testifying before Congress?

According to yesterday's Boston Globe,

Robert L. Wilkie , a former Bush administration national security official who left the White House to become assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs last year, has outlined a half-dozen guidelines that prohibit most officers below the rank of colonel from appearing in hearings, restricting testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by President Bush.

The guidelines, described in an April 19 memo to the staff director of the House Armed Services Committee, adds that all field-level officers and enlisted personnel must be "deemed appropriate" by the Department of Defense before they can participate in personal briefings for members of Congress or their staffs; in addition, according to the memo, the proceedings must not be recorded.

Too bad, C-SPAN viewers. No more first hand accounts from regular folks. From now on, you only get the sanitized version of events that the White House wants you to see.

Actually, it's worse than that.

On Monday, our nation will observe Memorial Day -- a day which is incredibly solemn and sacred, especially to those of us who served our nation with military service.

For one day, WesPAC and our friends at VoteVets.org and the National Security Network will put politics completely aside, and stand in solidarity with the rest of our nation to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or of another party or no party at all, we are all still Americans, and on this day, we should solely be focused on honoring those who died in service. We're also asking that people not protest at Memorial Day events; we have 364 other days to argue policy and politics, but this day belongs to the fallen and their memories.

Today, please consider making a donation to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (http://www.fallenheroesfund.org), which is dedicated to helping the families of those who died in service. The Intrepid Fund has already provided $60 million in aid to families, but can only continue to do so with your support.

Above all, take a day to learn more about someone who died in defense of America. If you're at a parade or prayer service and you see a veteran or military family member, ask him or her who they are honoring. Learn more about that hero, so their memory can endure. Too often, we talk about the fallen in terms of numbers. We forget, each of those numbers were real people, with real lives, and real families. The names on the thousands of memorials across America are more than letters etched in stone -- they are lives lost with honor. The best way we can honor those who sacrificed their lives is to ensure that the memory of who they were as human beings is never forgotten. Please, on Memorial Day, do your part to ensure their memory lives on.

Thank you for your support of our troops and veterans.

Sincerely,

Wes Clark
Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran, VoteVets.org
Rand Beers, USMC (ret.), National Security Network

A New York Times Op-Ed by troops from Iraq:

The War as We Saw It

by Staff Sergeants (E6) Jeremy A. Murphy and Yance T. Gray, Sergeants (E5) Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, and Edward Sandmeier, and Specialist (E4) Buddhika Jayamaha
Published: August 19, 2007

Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

After you read the editorial that follows, please join General Clark's campaign to remove Rush from the Armed Forces Radio Network, where our tax dollars provide him unfettered access to a captive audience of soldiers and sailors stationed overseas.

Limbaugh’s Cowardly Smear

by Joe Conason
Published on October 2, 2007, in the October 8, 2007, edition of The New York Observer

The controversy over what Rush Limbaugh meant when he uttered the phrase “phony soldiers” last week isn’t just another broadcast sideshow. As the political power of conservatism declines, the symbolic authority of figures such as Mr. Limbaugh is likewise shrinking. That is why he backs away from his own words, rips them from context by selectively editing his program’s transcript and insists he didn’t demean soldiers and veterans who dissent from the Bush White House war policy—as he and his fellow partisans have done so many times before.

I have come to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton is the presidential candidate most capable and most likely to withdraw our forces from Iraq in a manner that maximizes their safety and minimizes the long-term threat both to the region and to our national interests.

Apparently, these distinguished men and women have reached a similar conclusion.

Or listen to this conference call from the campaign, courtesy of Taylor Marsh's blog.

Flag Officers Endorsing Hillary Clinton for President and Commander-in-Chief, according to a press release dated March 1, 2008.

* General Wesley Clark
* General John M. Shalikashvili
* General Henry Hugh Shelton
* General Johnnie E. Wilson
* Admiral William Owens
* Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard
* Lt. Gen. Robert Gard
* Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy
* Lt. Gen. Donald L. Kerrick
* Lt. Gen. Frederick E. Vollrath
* Vice Admiral Joseph A. Sestak
* Major General Roger R. Blunt
* Major General George A. Buskirk, Jr.
* Major General Edward L. Correa, Jr.
* Major General Paul D. Eaton
* Major General Paul D. Monroe, Jr.
* Major General Antonio M. Taguba
* Rear Admiral Connie Mariano
* Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman
* Rear Admiral David Stone
* Brigadier General Michael Dunn
* Brigadier General Belisario Flores
* Brigadier General Evelyn "Pat" Foote
* Brigadier General Keith H. Kerr
* Brigadier General Virgil A. Richard
* Brigadier General Preston Taylor
* Brigadier General John M. Watkins, Jr.
* Brigadier General Jack Yeager