America must act as a leader, not a paranoid bully.
After Sept. 11, America needed a different foreign policy and a new national security plan. America does not need a "you're either with us or against us" approach that alienates our allies, has killed thousands of Americans in Iraq and has left the military waging a deceitfully-justified war in Iraq.
President George W. Bush has failed to establish a coherent long-term foreign policy or national security strategy.
This is why Bush cannot be reelected.
Multilateral efforts, focused military, leading with diplomacy -- Bush understands none of this. Democratic presidential candidate General Wesley Clark understands the global perspective that Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and their cronies disdain at enormous cost.
Bush's foreign policy has waged two wars -- one of which was falsely justified by supposed weapons of mass destruction -- and lost a hundred allies. He submarined his own secretary of state, Colin Powell -- perhaps the most disappointing cabinet member in recent history, if only because expectations were so high -- when Powell sought United Nations support for a war on Iraq. His administration has shrugged off the U.N. and NATO, ignoring multilateral cornerstones upon which our nation constructed its international leadership. Bush forgot that while America may successfully wage war, we need the help of a vast international community to establish peace.
Iraq imploded in April, but Bush and his war architects failed to develop a coherent plan for ensuring stability. One Iraqi told The New York Times last week, "There is no law, we live in the dark without electricity, there are no police to stop the thieves, nobody to control the traffic, no gasoline. Clark points out that Bush "began this war without allies, without evidence of an imminent threat, and without a strategy for success." Now, American soldiers are killed every day and outrage for this shoddy planning must fall squarely on the shoulders of the administration and the congress that let them get away with it.
America is safer with Saddam Hussein in custody, but America is weaker for having alienated its allies for 60 years, for having based its foreign policy on domestic political calculations and for having a commander in chief deceive the public about his causus belli in Iraq. Clearly, the our country's foreign policy is screwed up. We need a leader who understands our priorities and who has the resolve to fight for the country, yet still realizes we live in a global community. Clark, a Rhodes Scholar who graduated first in his class at West Point, knows how to eliminate the Bushian "paranoiac view of the world" while establishing an stronger, multilateral American foreign policy
This administration's foreign policy gaffes continue. On New Year's Day Powell -- the White House's Mr. Cellophane -- outlined his foreign policy goals for the upcoming year on opinion pages of the New York Times: Israel is a once mentioned afterthought, and Osama bin Laden is completely absent from the column.
Clark, who saw to it that Muslims, Serbs and Croats live in a stable and peaceful society, would be the perfect leader to find a permanent peace in Israel. His experience with global leaders reinforces his ability to resume President Bill Clinton's desperate efforts that Bush has deliberately neglected.
"Where is Osama bin Laden?" asked Clark when he visited Dartmouth in November. The question's continuing pertinence is an open wound on America's soul. When will Bush return his attention to Afghanistan? Clark's first military goal as President would be to finish the job in Afghanistan, another mess that Bush has ignored.
Not a single American soldier lost his life in combat during the Balkan wars while Clark served as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. In the preface to his memoir, "Waging Modern War," Clark posits, "The real lesson of Kosovo is this: To achieve strategic success at minimal cost, a structured alliance whose actions are guided by consensus and underwritten by international law is likely to be far more effective and efficient in the long term." The Kosovo campaign should have been the benchmark for contemporary international military efforts: a potent blend of "diplomacy backed by force . . . then force back by diplomacy." I fear Bush never read this book.
Clark's focus on foreign policy and field know-how separates the General from the other candidates in the 2004 election. President Clark would return to multilateral international efforts to defend our soil, people and values, and to aid those states and peoples seeking a better future. Clark's intelligence, focus, and above all, his tremendous experience with successful foreign policy separate him from the pack of Democratic contenders. These attributes separate Clark from Bush, too.
2004 will be the year of the General.
