Wesley Clark

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Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) was the United States Army General who as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO commanded Operation Allied Force. He had a distinguished career in the Army and the Department of Defense. Clark retired a four-star general, and received many US and foreign decorations for his service.

Image: wes_clark.jpg

Contents

Biographical Sketch

Clark's father Benjamin Kanne was an Orthodox Jew, a Democratic Party politician, and a lawyer, who died in 1948. His mother then returned home to Little Rock and married a former banker, Victor Clark. Wesley was brought up a Baptist Christian, and attended public schools. During the Vietnam war, he married Gertrude Kingston of Brooklyn, New York, and became a Roman Catholic. They have a son, Wesley Jr.

Clark graduated first in his class at West Point, and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He also graduated from the National War College, Command and General Staff College, Armor Officer Advanced and Basic Courses, and Ranger and Airborne schools.

Clark was wounded by a sniper while an infantry company commander in Vietnam. Later, he was an instructor and later an Assistant Professor of Social Science at West Point. He holds the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Clark headed the US military team during negotiations that led to the Bosnian Peace Accords at Dayton, under the overall leadership of Richard Holbrooke.

From 1997, he was head of the U.S. European Command (CINCEUR), responsible for about 109,000 U.S. troops and all U.S. military activities in 89 countries and territories of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. As Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR) he also had overall command of NATO military forces in Europe and led approximately 60,000 troops from 37 NATO and other nations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

As SACEUR, he stopped Slobodan Milosevic from forcing ethnic Albanians from their homes in Kosovo and killing thousands of them in a campaign of "ethnic cleansing." NATO ended this ethnic cleansing in 78 days without a single American fatality, and Milosevic is currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague.

The Kosovo airfield incident

During the Clinton administration, NATO tried to prevent Russian forces from occupying an airfield in Kosovo. While attempting to carry out the plan agreed upon by the Clinton national security team, Clark was stymied by the refusal of a British commander to commit his troops against Russia, then considered a "non-belligerent power".

According to a BBC profile of the General, at the conclusion of his command in the Kosovo War, which followed the end of the military campaign, there was an incident involving Russia's use of an airfield in Kosovo. After a token Russian force took control of the Slatina airfield, near Pristina, on June 10, 1998, there is said to have been a "battle of wills" between Clark and and the British NATO commander, Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson. Clark ordered British forces to resist Russian troops that occupied the airfield. Jackson did not comply, reportedly later saying: "I'm not going to start the third World War for you."

Clark, in an NPR interview, said that the incident was a surprising moment for him. Clark indicated that his order to block the runways was refused by an emotional Jackson and that he took the matter up the British chain of command. Clark stated that General Sir Charles Guthrie, British Chief of the Defence Staff, agreed with Jackson. Guthrie, according to Clark, also told him that Hugh Shelton the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also agreed with him. Clark found this very surprising since the original suggestion to block the Russians came from Washington. Clark called the Pentagon, looking for support, and was told by Shelton: "We don't want a confrontation, but I do support you". Clark said that he told Shelton: "Then you've got a policy problem". Clark maintained in the NPR interview that the matter was a difference in the perception of the policy between the US administration and the British government. Clark believed he was carrying out the suggestions of the administration in Washington.

This assertion is supported by the Clinton administration's subsequent actions, including the use of diplomacy and economic sanctions. The US persuaded Hungary and Romania to deny Russia flight over their airspace, preventing the Russians from landing transport planes to reinforce their troops at Pristina. In July 1999, the Russians agreed to integrate their forces into NATO's operations.

Presidential Candidacy

Since his retirement from the army, Clark has worked as a military and international affairs analyst. He appears regularly on CNN in this role. In mid-2003, Clark's name began surfacing as a possible Democratic candidate in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election.

Clark's issues with the Bush administration included The White House's alleged pressure of military figures to support a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Clark claimed that he received a phone call from The White House immediately after the September 11th attacks attempting to railroad him into supporting an invasion of Iraq. A Canadian businessman later claimed that the phone calls were made by him and had no relation to The White House. By August 2003, several organized groups were making a nationwide effort to "draft Clark" for the Democratic Party's nomination for the 2004 Presidential election. CNN on August 13 showed a commercial by one of these groups, and interviewed Clark. He disavowed any connection with the "draft Clark" groups, but said he had been considering his position and that within a few weeks he would likely make public his decision on whether or not to run.

On September 17 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clark announced his intention to run in the presidential primary election for the Democratic Party nomination, becoming the tenth Democrat to do so: "My name is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas, and I am here to announce that I intend to seek the presidency of the United States of America." He said, "We're going to run a campaign that will move this country forward, not back."

Many Democrats supported him for a number of reasons saying that having been first in his class at West Point and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO suggested that he would make good foreign policy decisions. Many also stated that he had been very forthcoming on domestic policy views (and suggested that he would make good economic decisions because of his economics studies at Oxford), while they fauledt other candidates from both parties for giving no clear indications of how they would handle U.S. economic problems. They further viewed Clark's positive media appearance in a positive way. They regarded his views as being more centrist than candidates such as Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean, thus giving him a realistic chance of actually being elected, as opposed to just gaining support from within the Democratic party. Clark's supporters generally considered his platform progressive and he claimed to be pro-choice and an environmentalist.

Clark, due to his late entrance into the race, decided to skip the Iowa caususes since that contest was more of a test of organization rather than popularity. Instead, Clark concentrated on the New Hampshire primary and initially did very well in opinion polls there. As Clark's campaign progressed he made several missteps, which included making accusations against the Bush administration without providing any sources for the accusation, and performing poorly in televised debates. Clark's Democratic opponents also questioned his Democratic Party credentials and noted Clark's previous efforts in support of the Republican Party.

These miscues led Clark to a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Clark's campaign continued without gaining any real momentum even though he carried the state of Oklahoma by a narrow margin. Clark remained in the race hoping for another victory in the Southern states of Tennessee or Virginia to keep his campaign alive. Disappointing results in those two states finally led him to abandon his campaign in early February 2004.

Life Events

  • 1944 Born in Chicago, Illinois
  • 1948 Father dies
  • 1966 Graduates first in his class from US Military Academy at West Point
  • 1966-8 Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics
  • 1968- Commander of a mechanized infantry company in combat in Vietnam wounded four times receiving Purple Heart and Silver Star
  • 1975-6 White House Fellow, Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
  • 1994-6 Director of the Pentagon's Strategic Plans and Policy operation, responsible to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for world-wide politico-military affairs and U.S. military strategic planning. Led the military negotiations for the Bosnian Peace Accords at Dayton.
  • 1996-7 Commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, Panama, controlling all U.S. forces & most U.S. military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • 1997-2000 Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (SACEUR), and Commander-in-Chief for the United States European Command (CINCEUR).
  • June 2000 Retires from military service
  • July 2000 Senior adviser at CSIS
  • 2000-2, Corporate consultant for Little Rock-based Stephens Group Inc. helps develop emerging-technology companies.

Offices held

This list is not complete

  • Chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a business services and development firm based in Little Rock
  • Founder & Chairman of "Leadership for America", an independent non-partisan, non-profit organization "fostering the national dialogue about America's future"
  • Senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
  • Director of the Atlantic Council
  • Board member of the International Crisis Group
  • Chairman of the board of WaveCrest Laboratories of Dulles, Va., a technology company specializing in electric propulsion systems
  • Senior military analyst for CNN, commenting on the US anti-terrorism activities, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and foreign policy
  • Board member of Acxiom Corporation

Military decorations

Other honors

Clark received more than 20 other major military awards from non-US governments.

Books

External Links

Footnote

¹The following references report the confrontation. Clark devotes an entire chapter to the incident in his book Waging Modern War (Chap. 15).

References

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