Iraq Mission Undercut by Abuse - Democrat Clark

Iraq Mission Undercut by Abuse - Democrat Clark

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops has led to a loss of credibility that undermines an already troubled U.S. military mission, retired Gen. Wesley Clark (news - web sites) said in the Democratic weekly radio address on Saturday.

"Apologies are not enough," the former Democratic presidential candidate said. "These criminal acts of abuse must be investigated fully and those responsible held accountable under law."

Clark, a former NATO (news - web sites) commander who directed the 1999 bombing campaign in Kosovo, was an early critic of the war in Iraq (news - web sites). A senior member of the U.S. team that helped broker the 1995 Dayton peace accords on Bosnia, Clark testified at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites).

~snip~

"The truth is President Bush made mistake after mistake as commander in chief, taking us into a war we didn't have to wage, alone and under false pretenses and is now managing it poorly," Clark said.

Yahoo/Reuters 5/8/04

Clark is right. The mission in Iraq has no chance of succeeding now. It was doubtful that the goal of making Iraq into a democracy has much of a chance to begin with but now such mission is impossible.

That is one of the most accurate succinct quotes I have seen in a long time.

on defense. He opposed the war in Iraq and like Bob Graham knew where the REAL priorities on the Terror War were and Clark knew and still knows how to deal with them. Both Bush and Kerry are weak on defense.