Joe Conason on Gen. Clark's memoir - "Seven countries in five years"

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/index.html

"Seven countries in five years"
Joe Conason

Oct. 12, 2007 | While the Bush White House promotes the possibility of armed conflict with Iran, a tantalizing passage in Wesley Clark's new memoir suggests that another war is part of a long-planned Department of Defense strategy that anticipated "regime change" by force in no fewer than seven Mideast states. Critics of the war have often voiced suspicions of such imperial schemes, but this is the first time that a high-ranking former military officer has claimed to know that such plans existed.

The existence of that classified memo would certainly cast more dubious light not only on the original decision to invade Iraq because of Saddam Hussein's weapons and ambitions but on the current efforts to justify and even instigate military action against Iran.

In "A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country," published by Palgrave Macmillan last month, the former four-star general recalls two visits to the Pentagon following the terrorist attacks of September 2001. On the first visit, less than two weeks after Sept. 11, he writes, a "senior general" told him, "We're going to attack Iraq. The decision has basically been made."

Six weeks later, Clark returned to Washington to see the same general and inquired whether the plan to strike Iraq was still under consideration. The general's response was stunning:

"'Oh, it's worse than that,' he said, holding up a memo on his desk. 'Here's the paper from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (then Donald Rumsfeld) outlining the strategy. We're going to take out seven countries in five years.' And he named them, starting with Iraq and Syria and ending with Iran."

snip//

Perhaps it is time for the appropriate Senate and House committees to start asking harder questions about this administration's secret strategies for the Mideast. They might begin by interviewing Clark behind closed doors about that classified memo -- and to what extent such extreme ideas have promoted the "permanent war" policy that is fundamental to neoconservative ideology.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/10/12/wesley_clark/

[AndreaCG]

1. Why does Wesley Clark hate America?

(/wingnut)

[Stan Davis]

3. Re: /wingnut

Great statesman.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO

[Wesin04]

2. Conasan needs to do a little more checking

The revelation that Clark was told by a pentagon official right after 9-11 that the plans were much more extensive is far from new. Clark has been talking about this for years! Clark was retired and out of uniform when he went back to visit colleagues in the Pentagon after 9-11. He was told about the plans, but never saw a classified memo. Wes Clark testified about the problems with invading Iraq when he testified before the House Armed Services Committee in 2002.

If more had heeded Clark's strong words before this war started, we wouldn't be there today.

[leftchick]

4. what if the democrats' strategies are the same as republicans?

right now I do not see any difference. (save a very few brave dems)