This was pointed out by Kelly Gerling
This is an excerpt of Gen. Wesley Clark in a Democracy Now interview with Amy Goodman:
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: I knew why, because I had been through the
Pentagon right after 9/11. About ten days after 9/11, I went through the
Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I
went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint
Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He
said, "Sir, you've got to come in and talk to me a second." I said,
"Well, you're too busy." He said, "No, no." He says, "We've made the
decision we're going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of
September. I said, "We're going to war with Iraq? Why?" He said, "I
don't know." He said, "I guess they don't know what else to do." So I
said, "Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to
al-Qaeda?" He said, "No, no." He says, "There's nothing new that way.
They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq." He said, "I guess
it's like we don't know what to do about terrorists, but we've got a
good military and we can take down governments." And he said, "I guess
if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a
nail."
So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were
bombing in Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?"
And he said, "Oh, it's worse than that." He reached over on his desk. He
picked up a piece of paper. And he said, "I just got this down from
upstairs" -- meaning the Secretary of Defense's office -- "today." And
he said, "This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out
seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria,
Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran." I said, "Is it
classified?" He said, "Yes, sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me."
And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, "You remember that?" He
said, "Sir, I didn't show you that memo! I didn't show it to you!"
AMY GOODMAN: I'm sorry. What did you say his name was?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: I'm not going to give you his name.
AMY GOODMAN: So, go through the countries again.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Well, starting with Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon, then Libya, then Somalia and Sudan, and back to Iran.
_____________
Um, Thanks, General. If you run for president again, what else won't
you bother to mention while supporting a war you opposed before you
supported opposing?
No comments:
Post a Comment