Wesley Clark was Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), the top NATO general, and was in charge of the bombing campaign that led to the Serb withdrawal from Kosovo. I remember reading that he took some heat from top Clinton Administration people (incl. then-SecDef William Cohen) for showboating, but my understanding was that most everyone concerned thought he’d done a good job. Then he was transferred back to the U.S. sooner than had been expected, and not given a post of similar importance. I’ve never read a good explanation of why. Was he getting too big for his britches? Did he make too many enemies in Washington?
The odd thing is, when he ran for President last year, he had a lot of former Clintonistas in his campaign high command. There was even speculation that Bill and Hillary didn’t want John Kerry to get the nomination, so that the Democrats would lose the election (which they did anyway, alas) and Hillary would have a clear shot in '08.
Be that as it may… what’s the real story of why Clark left his NATO post as he did?
If it weren’t for me screwing up the search engine on this topic I bet you’d find the answer in the archives somewhere.
Wesley Clark has been considered by several people close to him to be a user of people, the type of uses people to get ahead in his career. Maybe he pissed off the wrong people.
http://www.zpub.com/un/clark.html
When at a forum in September, retired Gen. Hugh Shelton was asked if he would support retired Gen. Wesley Clark for president, Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, quickly took a drink of water. "That question makes me wish it were vodka," Shelton said. "I've known Wes for a long time. I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote."
Which was bad enough, but on November 6, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf appeared on CNBC’s Capital Report, hosted by Gloria Borger and Alan Murray, who asked him what he thought of Clark. “I think the greatest condemnation against him . . . came from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he was a NATO commander. I mean, he was fired as a NATO commander,” Schwarzkopf replied, “and when Hugh Shelton said he was fired because of matters of character and integrity, that is a very, very damning statement, which says, `If that’s the case, he’s not the right man for president,’ as far as I’m concerned.”
http://www.militarycorruption.com/wesleyclark3.htm
In our earlier story, (see below), we quoted British Gen. Michael Jackson as rightly refusing Clark’s order to attack Russian troops moving on the Pristina airport in Kosovo. At the time, Clark was Supreme NATO Commander and Jackson leader of all ground forces in the region.
“I won’t start World War III for you, sir,” snorted the tough British commander. When word of Clark’s instability reached Washington, even Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen, managed to have the “moxie” to call Clark home early and “retire” him from the Army. No less than Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Army Chief of Staff, confirmed Clark had been “fired.” So we can all count ourselves lucky that the megalomaniac general has now left the political stage. Hopefully, for good.
http://www.militarycorruption.com/wesleyclark.htm
They’ve got some fun stories on that website.