The Muslim News

CONCORD, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA, The Telegraph:

The attack against Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism, but was the work of military leaders in the Bush administration with a long score to settle, retired Gen. Wesley Clark charged Wednesday.

The Democratic presidential candidate predicted that poor planning and the cost of the Iraq war aftermath would lead to a political realignment, since Americans no longer see Republicans as more trustworthy on national security issues.

“The legacy of Vietnam will be put to rest by the legacy of Iraq,” Clark said during remarks at the New Hampshire Political Library.

Clark said a memo from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington was a foreshadowing of the effort to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

“It is a world-class bait and switch,” Clark told reporters.

CBS News and The Philadelphia Daily News have reported Rumsfeld wrote a memo five hours after the terrorist attacks that ordered up intelligence on whether it could be used to “hit S.H.,’’ referring to Saddam.

“Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not,” the memo said, according to those reports.

Republican State Committee spokeswoman Julie Teer said this is another example of Clark’s bid to peel away from the anti-war base in the Democratic Party

“It’s another week and another whopper from Wesley Clark,” Teer said.

“He has based his facts and charges on rumors and gossip on the Sunday talk shows. These comments illustrate Wesley Clark’s desperation.”

Clark released a short but impressive list of prominent Democrats backing his candidacy Wednesday. The newest name was Mark Fernald of Sharon, former state senator and 2002 nominee for governor.

“The party needs a good communicator. He’s the best communicator we’ve got,” Fernald said.

The list included two well-known state officials who were Republicans but have since become independent voters: former Administrative Services Commissioner Pat Duffy and retired Naval Cmdr. Bill Johnson, a former state senator.

Earlier Wednesday, Clark said he came to lean toward Democratic ideals near the end of his 35-year military career.

“To be really cold about it, the Republicans are mostly interested in weapons systems. The Democrats are more interested in people,” Clark said during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio’s “The Exchange” with Laura Knoy.

“The more senior I became in the armed forces, the more clear it became to me that it’s the people that matters the most, not the weapons systems.”

Clark insisted his early release as Supreme NATO Commander of the Allied Forces by Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen was not a firing.

“I was suddenly called and told I would have to give up command early. I was told at the time I was not being fired. I was told at the time it was just an administrative matter,” he said.

Clark said Pentagon brass did not like his urgent calls to prevent the ethnic cleansing of 1.5 million Albanians in the province of Kosovo under former President Slobodan Milosovic.

“Frankly, I was told to mind my own business, that they were too busy in the Pentagon dealing with Congress to hear any commander in the field report there might be problems coming. That’s not adequate,” Clark said.
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