Reply #21: The novelty hasnt worn off [View All]

[Bertrand]

as you can see by the nearly 2-1 lead he has over Dean nationally.

The "New Democrats" (neo-cons) are as much masters at the perception management (lying) game as their GOP

The author claims to charge the New Democrats as Neoconservatives but he doesnt even make a case as to why he believes they are, but then again i would expect him to because he couldnt. The DLC is, while very centrist, for fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and the maintenance of the current social safety net (even improving it) while the NeoCons believe in gross spending to finance their adventures abroad while eliminating the govts role in financing HealthCare, Social Security, etc. The NeoCons believe in a unilateral blunt foreign policy to increase American hegemony while the DLC believes in a multilateral approach to world problems instead of "preventative" war. The main critique you can make of the DLC is that they were cowardly in their abdication of being the opposition to the Bush Doctrine.

According to Pentagon insiders, when Clark was Commander of the US Southern Command in Panama from June 1996 to July 1997, he was fond of "ordering" Latin American military commanders and defense ministers to appear before him. Some of the Latin American officials, particularly those from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, refused to be bullied by Clark, whose personality is said to be acerbic. From his pro-consul position in Panama, Clark supported with US military advisers and American mercenaries, continued warfare against anti-oligarchic movements in Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, and Bolivia.

He, the editorialist, sources unnamed "pentagon insiders" as if that validates what he says. Also, while Clark was the South American "Proconsul" when he was a 3 star, he didnt have the power to change pentagon doctrine but to carry it out. His actions, incidentally, are supported by Howard Dean, John Kerry, and all of the other centrists. The Democratic Party is far from perfect, but then again moral absolutism and political rigidity are why the chomskyite left are marginalized from the political process.

he almost got into a shooting war with Russian peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. It was only the intervention of the British government, Defense Secretary William Cohen, and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Hugh Shelton that prevented Clark from starting World War III. When Clark ordered British Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson to forcibly block Kosovo's Pristina Airport to prevent Russian planes from landing, the Briton replied, "Sir, Ia*TMm not starting World War III for you.a** Jackson was backed up all the way to Number 10 Downing Street. Clark was forced to back down. Eventually, Cohen fired Clark as NATO commander three months before his term was to expire.

The writer fails to mention that Washington issued the order to block the Pristina airport, and when rejected by Jackson, Washington backed down from persuading Britain to lift their block of the order and told Clark to stand down. He also insinuates that Clark was fired because of the Pristina incident because he was reckless, failing to mention the internal conflicts Clark was having with Shelton and Cohen over how the war was managed, etc.

"Clark was well aware of and likely supported the arming of the Bosnian government by accepting contributions from various deep-pocketed Muslim countries..."

The writer is knowingly speculating about Clarks involvement in the BDF. He has no proof, yet condemns clark through his built-up argument. The rest of the article is hyperbole.

Whats funny is that i used to read counterpunch a few years back until i started learning about how to structure arguments, and they are probably one of the worst e-zines in abuse of fallacies. If youre into libertarian-socialist thinking, read Kropotkin, Bakunin, Goldman, etc. because they offer a better critique of the global issues of where society has progressed than some e-zine guy that doesnt even understand how to formulate an informed opinion - and they lived 100 years ago.