WESLEY CLARK:Where is the leadership and the rule of law?

[kpete]

(Saw this yesterday & thought it would be posted, sorry if dupe, Kpete)

A Note from General Wesley Clark

For generations, the United States has been a powerful voice of moral authority in the world, but the Bush administratiWhere is the leadership and the rule of law?on has squandered our legacy of moral leadership.

After World War II, we led the world in creating the Geneva Conventions and prosecuting war criminals at Nuremberg, and later became one of the first nations to ratify the Convention Against Torture. Even today, Slobodan Milosevic is being tried for war crimes thanks to a US-led NATO air strike against his brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

All soldiers during the Vietnam War were issued specific and direct instructions on the handling and treatment of prisoners. I have posted a copy of those instructions for you to see. There was no doubt about the penalties for ignoring these orders.

Take a moment to read the orders issued during Vietnam by clicking the link ... Compare these clear and direct statements to the ambiguous rhetoric coming out of this administration.

Where is the leadership and the rule of law?
http://securingamerica.com/geneva.htm
http://www.dembloggers.com/story/2006/1/20/101831/649

[LynnTheDem]

1. "powerful voice of moral authority"...excepting of course

the state terrorist deaths of 30,000 Nicaraguan civilians the USA was indcited and found guilty of slaughtering & ordered to pay restitution and promised to do so then froze the payments which remain frozen to this day.

And Vietnam.

And Iraq.

And Haiti.

And years of overthrowing other nations' democratically elected leaders to install US rightwing puppets.

And supporting Osama bin Laden.
And Pinochet.
And Taylor.
And Ho Chi Minh.
And Hussein.
And the Taleban.
And the Ba'ath Party.

And...and...and...

Fool yourselves, Americans, but the rest of the world knows exactly what has been done (is being done) in your names.

[KG]

2. thank you. the image of america as a 'powerful voice of moral authority'

is a myth that i find incredible anybody actually believes in anymore.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Those who believe in it are Americans. And unfortunate but fact,

far too many Americans are among the most ignorant on the planet.

How many Americans know the USA comes in at 3rd world status, #42, for infant mortality? First off ya know the ONE-QUARTER of the country that thinks the sun revolves around the earth don't know it.

How can so many be so utterly ignorant.

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. You left out the Native Americans and Slavery, but you miss the point.

There are always national myths, and almost always the myths are more noble than the reality. Myths are potent forces and they can be used for good or evil, but they are always ignored at our own risk. Martin Luther King Jr. understood that. He summoned up the best parts from America's myth and he held white Americans accountable to live up to that, but before that he asked them to join with him and take pride in what America was supposed to be about, and to join with him in moving that myth closer to reality.

Clark is using American's desire to see ourselves as moral beings to prod the public, and those who have served in the military in prior wars in particular, toward outrage at having their honor trashed by a public retreat from an American commitment to moral behavior. Of course this nation has frequently fallen woefully short of our professed ideals, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have ideals to use as benchmarks for our behavior. Clark just presented a black and white stark comparison of a shift in stated official American policy away from adhering to the Geneva Conventions toward embracing human rights abuses.

You can say that the best way to deal with that shift, which has in reality resulted in worse human rights abuses under Bush than under other recent Presidents, is to say that America has never had an interest in human rights, but how does that advance a worthwhile cause? MLK was a master at using the positive self image that people who are none the less complicit in oppression have of themselves, to enlist them in the real work of social change.

I'm sorry, but I think it is a GOOD thing to have an American General directly attack this administration for abandoning a commitment to the Geneva Convention and anti torture treaties. I think it is a GOOD thing to define patriotism as an acceptance of international law and adherence to it.

[BootinUp]

14. great post. n/t

[LynnTheDem]

15. No, I didn't miss any point.

I do appreciate ANYONE speaking out against the evil bush & his MFing cartel are perpetuating against the US & the world.

HOWEVER, I prefer the real truth, the real unvarnished truth. Coz until Americans wake up to the TRUTH of what this country has been doing in our names for decades, the shit will continue until the rest of the world is backed against the wall and decides they can no longer sit and hope we wake the fuck up.

[Captain Hilts]

4. He understands that we're supposed to be the 'good guys'. nt

[KG]

5. wes clark has an intrest in perpetuating the 'good guy' myth

since he made his fortune from an institution that thrived on that myth.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Ask Germans which was better: to be over-run by Red or US armies. nt

[Swamp Rat]

13. Ask Americans which is better: to be run by a Nazi or be FREE!

[Adelante]

9. What fortune is that?

Pray tell.

[Donna Zen]

10. Tapping my foot....

and waiting for an answer to that. A fortune! Well fancy a man who made that fortune having a mortgage and driving a 1992 car. Amazing what the mind gets up to when freed from facts.


Now it no secret that at 31 he was offered a major position worth millions working for a bank. He turned it down. Just the facts.

[CarolNYC]

24. Hey, why let facts get in the way of prejudice? :P n/t

[Jai4WKC08]

16. NO ONE makes a "fortune" in the military

And anyone with the talent to become a four-star general, especially one who was first in his class at West Point and finished a 3-year program at Oxford in two, could certainly have made a real fortune several times over the in civilian world.

But thank you for insulting every veteran at DU who happens to believe your "myth" that we are the good guys. :sarcasm:

[Clark2008]

18. Jai, as my third favorite vet...

Here's to you, hon.

You rock and don't let these igmoe's get you down. It's not a myth. It's what America was created to be and is losing that credibilty rapidly and, sadly, vapidly.

But, thanks for the excellent point.

(My first two favorite vets are my husband and Wes. You're in good company in my heart. Oh, the hubby was in the Army. Would love for you to meet soon.)

[Jai4WKC08]

23. Thanks sweetie

I look forward to meeting you hubby. And the little guy too. :) Mega-congrats to you all!!!

Fwiw, I looked up the salary for a 4-star. The earliest pay chart I could find was 2001, and the salary was $10,850 per month. WKC retired in 2000, so it would have been somewhat less. Not peanuts, but nothing comparable to the CEO of a company with as many employees as the size of the NATO military.

[Jim Sagle]

22. Or maybe just an interest in perpetuating America and restoring its

democracy.

[chaplainM]

6. It's a good thing Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney weaseled out of Vietnam

Otherwise, they'd've had to have read about how to treat prisoners humanely, and why.

[DanCa]

8. Wes Clark is a good man, a great man.

I dont care what the freepers and posers out there say about him.

[Synnical]

12. Vietnam orders - graphic

[MrSlayer]

17. Further proof of why Wes is the man.

Direct to the point and truthful. You have to call these bastards out and get right in their face. Clark does that brilliantly.

[Adelante]

19. Please sign this petition

Demand that Congress investigate Bush policies that led to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

http://ga4.org/campaign/prisonerabuse?


LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!!

[Clarkie1]

20. It's in the Democratic Party. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

21. We need to see MORE of Wes. I miss him.

If he'd had more practice and polish, if he'd done Iowa..... who knows. I hope he runs again.