Wesley Clark
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.
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 confronted Slobodan Milosevic over Kosovo. NATO's 78 day bombing campaing ended with the Kumanovo truce, a withdrawal of Yugoslav military and police force from Kosovo, and the entry of NATO and other KFor forces.
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. According to a BBC profile of the General, after a token Russian force took control of the Slatina airfield, near Pristina, on June 10, 1998, there was 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.
Despite Clark's claims, Jackson could not have obeyed the order without reference to the British Government. Otherwise, he would have been committing British troops to action against a non-belligerent power without the consent of the British Government. That would have been firmly against the British Constitution, and would have resulted in the dismissal of Jackson for gross insubordination. The situation would have analagous to the behaviour of US General of the Army Douglas MacArthur with respect to China, during the Korean War.
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.
The Clinton administration later 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.
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 may include The White House's alleged pressure of credible military figures to support a U.S. invasion of Iraq. 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 support him for a number of reasons. They say that having been first in his class at West Point and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO suggests that he will make good foreign policy decisions. They also say that he has been very forthcoming on domestic policy views (and suggest that he would make good economic decisions because of his economics studies at Oxford), while they fault other candidates from both parties for giving no clear indications of how they would handle U.S. economic problems. They further view Clark as having a positive media appearance. They regard 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 consider his platform progressive; he is pro-choice and an environmentalist.
In a campaign commercial released October 30, 2003, his presidential campaign made reference to the hip hop duo OutKast. The reference was an attempt to get the attention of a much younger generation of potential voters. In the ad, Clark is sitting in a coffee shop with a dozen middle-class young adults of various American ethnicities. The young adults do not speak, but sit and listen as Clark appears to be answering their questions. "Well, to answer your questions, no, I would not have voted for the Iraq war...I am pro-choice and I am a strong believer in Affirmative Action...And I don't care what the other candidates say, I don't think OutKast is really breaking up. Andre 3000 and Big Boi just cut solo records, that's all." The last comment prompts one of the young adults, a blonde-bearded caucasian, to say approvingly "alright" and to tap fists with Clark. To avoid any doubt as to whether the commercial is hoax or not, the commercial ends with a voice-over from Clark saying "I'm Wes Clark, and I approve of this message."
This list is not complete
¹The following references report the confrontation. Clark devotes an entire chapter to the incident in his book Waging Modern War (Chap. 15).
Biographical sketch
The Kosovo airfield incident
Presidential candidacy
Life events
Current offices
Military decorations
Other honors
Clark received more than 20 other major military awards from non-US governments.Books
External links
Footnote
