Interesting read:
Visiting the Pentagon only a week after 9/11 Clark was called into the office of another high ranking General;
"So, the General calls me after I'd seen Rumsfeld. He said, "Sir, come in here." He said, "Sir, we're going to invade Iraq." I said, "We're going to invade Iraq!?! Why?" And he said, "Because," he says, "I don't know why. Really," he said, "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but," he said, "I guess they don't know what to do about the problem of terrorism, and if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem has to look like a nail." He said, "We don't know what to do about terrorists, but we can take down governments. So, I guess they're looking for a government to take down. Meanwhile we started bombing in Afghanistan. So well, I came back to see the same General in early November. I said, "Are we still going to invade Iraq?" He said, "Yes, Sir," he said, "but it's worse than that." I said, "How do you mean?" He held up this piece of paper. He said, "I just got this memo today or yesterday from the office of the Secretary of Defense upstairs. It's a, it's a five-year plan. We're going to take down seven countries in five years. We're going to start with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, then Libya, Somalia, Sudan, we're going to come back and get Iran in five years. I said, "Is that classified, that paper?" He said, "Yes Sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me, because I want to be able to talk about it." And I begin to see what wasn't being explained to the American people, which was the overall drift of where the policy was. We still didn't have a strategy, but we were driven to take action.
From a speech at the University of Alabama on October 13th 2006
http://securingamerica.com/printready/Univ_Alabama_061013.htm
In my opinion this guy has a lot more smarts than John Kerry will ever have.
Visiting the Pentagon only a week after 9/11 Clark was called into the office of another high ranking General;
"So, the General calls me after I'd seen Rumsfeld. He said, "Sir, come in here." He said, "Sir, we're going to invade Iraq." I said, "We're going to invade Iraq!?! Why?" And he said, "Because," he says, "I don't know why. Really," he said, "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but," he said, "I guess they don't know what to do about the problem of terrorism, and if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem has to look like a nail." He said, "We don't know what to do about terrorists, but we can take down governments. So, I guess they're looking for a government to take down. Meanwhile we started bombing in Afghanistan. So well, I came back to see the same General in early November. I said, "Are we still going to invade Iraq?" He said, "Yes, Sir," he said, "but it's worse than that." I said, "How do you mean?" He held up this piece of paper. He said, "I just got this memo today or yesterday from the office of the Secretary of Defense upstairs. It's a, it's a five-year plan. We're going to take down seven countries in five years. We're going to start with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, then Libya, Somalia, Sudan, we're going to come back and get Iran in five years. I said, "Is that classified, that paper?" He said, "Yes Sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me, because I want to be able to talk about it." And I begin to see what wasn't being explained to the American people, which was the overall drift of where the policy was. We still didn't have a strategy, but we were driven to take action.
From a speech at the University of Alabama on October 13th 2006
http://securingamerica.com/printready/Univ_Alabama_061013.htm
In my opinion this guy has a lot more smarts than John Kerry will ever have.
