more disquieting Clark biographical history....

[mike_c]

Clark's NATO biography page (http://www.nato.int/cv/saceur/clark.htm) notes that his last post was as "Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command, Panama, from June 1996 to July 1997, where he commanded all U.S. forces and was responsible for the direction of most U.S. military activities and interests in Latin America and the Caribbean." Given the U.S. foreign policy record of warfare against the poor in Latin and South America I wondered whether there might be any connection between Wesley Clark and the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA.

A google search turned up a couple of interesting pieces of information. On Dec. 16, 1996-- well after his apparent "conversion" to the Democratic Party-- Clark gave the commencement speech to the graduating class at SOA, praising their achievements and exhorting them to continue their battle against "narco criminals," and calling upon their joint brotherhood as "military professionals." See http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/usarsa/SPEECH/cgscspch.htm. Although much of the text of his speech was boilerplate, the very fact that he gave it is troubling, since there were true patriots demonstrating, and being arrested, at the gates while he told the SOA graduates how "special" they were. See also http://www.justicewomen.com/ws_laura.html for a Guatemalan perspective from Sept. 15, 2001 listing Wesley Clark in such illustrious company as G. H. W. Bush, Henry Kissenger, Richard Nixon, Colin Powel, Elliot Abrams, and Oliver North. Clark also called for increasing U.S. presence and influence in Honduras to replace the loss of the Panamanian staging bases in 1999 (http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n6cap_body.html).

Clark's association with the SOA-- even though tangential in his role as CinC Southern Command-- is troubling, given the "CIA revelations that the School of the Americas, located at Ft. Benning, Georgia, trained Latin American officers and enlisted personnel in torture and killing" (http://ssdc.ucsd.edu/news/notisur/h96/notisur.19961011.html). I found no evidence that Clark ever advocated closing the SOA or its successor, the renamed but otherwise similar “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.”

[dobak]

1. yeah, so

He can still beat bunnypants and that is all that matters to me these days.

I still have hope of electing a great "liberal" president someday, but I don't expect that day to be in November of 2004.

[mike_c]

6. sorry, anyone who responds "yeah, so" to Clark's SOA involvement...

...loses all credibility in my world. The SOA is one of the most evil institutions the U.S. has ever created. It is responsible for training the officers implicated in tens of thousands of deaths and "disappearances" in Latin and South America, and for teaching sophisticated torture techniques, as well as propogating one of the most destructive aspects of U.S. foreign policy in this hemisphere.

Yeah so?

I don't want a president who has participated in this on-going crime against humanity, or who, when it came under his purview, endorsed this most notorious U.S. "school for terrorists" by his inaction. We've already had several of those. We don't need anymore.

[Fish Eye]

14. I second that one!!

Anyone who supports the SOA is a fucking antidemocratic murdering basterd!

Fuck Clark!!!

[Cheswick2.0]

16. oh yeah right, with the pic of Wellstone as your avatar

come on, who ya foolin?

[RandomKoolzip]

2. All right, that clinches it. Fuck Clark.

I'll vote for him against Bush, but shit, this guy is appearing worse all the time.

[Pastiche423]

3. Thank you much

for your research. I'm still reading, but wanted to :kick: this before it sank too far.

P.S. I must admit, am not at all surprised at what I am reading.

What was that we heard about marketing your product...?

[carpetbagger]

4. More lame internet surfing.

If there's any evidence that SOA grads from that class had as of the time of graduation participated in the nasty stuff their predecessors had, your argument would carry weight. Otherwise, it's guilt by association.

The second article is nothing more than a gripe from someone who would rather have Milosevic running amok in Kosovo. The man was evil, and needed to be defeated militarily. When war is waged, people die. Sometimes not the people you're trying to kill. Read up on WWII and then tell me we shouldn't have stopped Hitler.

The third article points out (briefly)what the administration was doing to try to reform SOA. Frankly, the Clinton administration conducted itself with honor in Central and South America.

[Pastiche423]

5. Pretty soon

you are going to run out of resources to call "lame".

[RichM]

7. What is really "lame" is your denial of the significance of these things.

[PurityOfEssence]

9. Truly hard to fathom, isn't it?

Once one realizes that "we" are not necessarily "good", then certain of our institutions really start to reek. Our military isn't just the facilitator it would like to have us believe it is any more than Ashcroft is just going to enforce laws without preference.

From a purely contrarian and hypothetical point of view, those in the upper reaches of the the military establishment are so culpable of so many "untidinesses" that they are well controlled by sinister forces.

Funny how folks think this cat's an outsider.

The military mindset isn't egalitarian and inclusive, it's hierarchical and retaliatory.

(insert sound of shaking head and low murmuring...)

[mike_c]

8. spare me the United Fruit Company apologist rhetoric....

Frankly, the Clinton administration conducted itself with honor in Central and South America.

I don't believe that any U.S. administration has "conducted itself with honor in Central and South America" since before the Spanish-American War. As for your first objection, look at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/SOA/StillSchoolAssassins.html. Give the recent graduates a chance to come into their own as torturors, terrorists, and elite warriors against the poor.

[jonnyblitz]

10. LMFAO...didn't "Plan Colombia" begin under Clintons watch.

Honor my ass!! :puke:

[Fish Eye]

15. And I thought blind faith was for the right wing...

"guilt by association" And you would vote/support an associate of a subversive anti democratic murder training camp??

Perhaps you should check you central and south american history.

[Terwilliger]

17. Ahhhh....sounds familiar!

The man was evil, and needed to be defeated militarily.

So Bush was justified in attacking Iraq, right?

[MrPrax]

11. Yikes...Narco-Criminals!

Goes to show the mindset...
Clinton like Newt, both were in favour of decriminalization...but we all know what happened...
Clinton doubled pot convictions under his watch --the highest level of incarceration in US history...

So Clark is in the 'dope' loop as well...and buddies with the 'School' ...probably to some this shows he has 'diplomatic' experience

Let me guess, Cuba is a demonstrable threat to our freedom, Colombia is freedom, Argentina should starve itself for western banks, more arms and more trade...

Yeah yeah...who cares if these guys beat Bush...there is nothing about Clark or Dean that would keep them from invading Iran or North Korea or Cuba or bombing cities full of civillians to get 'criminals'

Love to see one of these guys break the mold

[sujan]

12. kick

[reachout]

13. Both informative...

and disturbing. I've been involved in the protests at SOA and am good friends with some people who are very active in SOAWatch and have been to Latin America to talk with the victims of its thugs.

Thank you for doing this research and sharing it.

[hedda_foil]

18. Can you say DLC plant?