Retired General Wesley Clark Fundamentally Misunderstands The War By Bryan Preston

by John Hawkins | April 8, 2005 1:44 pm

Wesley Clark is living proof that not all generals understand military strategy. He still to this day misunderstands the war[1]:

The United States must reassure Syria and Iran about its intentions rather than trying to destabilize them, a former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate said.

The U.S. retired general Wesley Clark said that President George W. Bush’s policy towards Syria and Iran encourage the two states to work against the U.S. interests in Iraq, and endangers the U.S. forces based there.

Both Iran and Syria, along with nearly every other ME government, have been working against US interests for decades. That didn’t stop when we invaded Iraq, primarily because they know that a democratic Iraq probably spells doom for them. The unrest in Lebanon and trends toward greater representative government elsewhere in the region fuels their own self-doubt and fuels their restive populations’ desire for freedom.

All of that is good. All of that, in fact, is the point of the war in Iraq. Along with taking the possibility of a WMD-armed Saddam out of the picture, democratizing the MidEast starting with Iraq has always been a part of the plan. The Bush administration made that case from the beginning. Blogs like this one made that case, too. And you don’t democratize the MidEast by reassuring Syria and Iran, the two worst terror-sponsoring governments in the region. They should be scared, not reassured.

Clark also said that he fears the Bush administration’s rhetoric would lead to the collapse of Syria’s regime, saying that the U.S. is not prepared to handle that possibility.

Eh, when will we ever be prepared for that possibility? Were we prepared for the possibility that Communism would collapse in 1989? Should we have gotten all the ducks in a row before Reagan scolded Gorbachev to tear down that wall? What does being prepared for the collapse of Syria even mean? Does Clark think we’re going to go in an occupy it of Baby Assad gets a shiv in the back tomorrow? That’s looney.

Clark is going to bat for Syria and Iran, two enemies of the US. Like most Democrats these days, he’d rather trust our enemies than our duly elected administration. That was true during the Cold War and it’s true now. That sad fact says quite a lot about where we are as a country.

This content was used with the permission of Bryan Preston of JunkYardBlog. You can read more of his work by clicking here[2].