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November 10, 2003
Tommy Franks Rejects Wes Clark as Presidential Material

The Clark campaign took another broadside from a former senior military commander:

Gen. Tommy Franks, who retired after leading the first stage of this year's war against Iraq, says in a new report that Wesley Clark, another former general, would make a lousy president. "Absolutely not," said Franks, when asked if Clark, who recently joined the pack of presidential wannabes, would make a good commander-in-chief.

This follows the comments previously made made by General Hugh Shelton, which alluded to integrity and character issues. That two former senior military peers would openly disparage General Clark's presidential campaign is unprecedented; in the military, normally great care is taken to support former comrades-in-arms, at least in terms of their leadership and their service.

Nor is this the only odd thing about the Post story. He insinuates that his termination as commander during the Kosovo conflict was engineered by Secretary of Defense William Cohen and forced past an uncomprehending Bill Clinton:

Clark so infuriated then-Defense Secretary William Cohen and other top Pentagon officials with his ego that he was pushed from his job prematurely after President Bill Clinton was "hornswoggled" into signing off on the dismissal, according to this week's The New Yorker.

Clinton signed the papers that fired Clark without ever understanding what he was signing, the report says. "He was hornswoggled," insisted Clark.

Whatever else one may think of Bill Clinton, naivete is not one of his primary characteristics, and the notion that Defense would be able to decapitate the commander of this singular military project without him demanding a reason why stretches belief. The more I see of Clark, the less capable he seems. (via Power Line)

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Posted by Ed Morrissey at November 10, 2003 4:35 PM

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» Tuesday Clarkbot from Independents For Clark
This post catches up on some links I missed over the last few days because of a problem processing non-standard characters. Clark will be on Meet The Press this weekend. It could be a defining moment for the campaign. Lots... [Read More]

Tracked on November 11, 2003 5:17 PM



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