No! Really! Sen. McCain are you truly experienced?
Gen. wesley Clark Weighs in on the experience thingy that McCain and his entourage are claiming.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Huffington Post, Clark offered opinions on the current state of American foreign policy, the Democrats’ emergence as a more “full-service” party on security issues, and — lest anyone doubt his potential use as a running mate for Obama — the shortcomings of Sen. John McCain.
“I know he’s trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks is his strong suit of national security,” Clark said of McCain while speaking from his office in Little Rock, Arkansas. “The truth is that, in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried. He’s never been responsible for policy formulation. He’s never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff. It’s not clear that this is going to be the strong suit that he thinks it is.”
Resume aside, though, Clark also took issue with the Arizona Republican’s instincts on national security. “McCain’s weakness is that he’s always been for the use of force, force and more force. In my experience, the only time to use force is as a last resort. … When he talks about throwing Russia out of the G8 and makes ditties about bombing Iran, he betrays a disrespect for the office of the presidency.”
Citing the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, Clark suggested a prime window of opportunity may have been missed early in the Bush presidency, before the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “I think Iran has come out of the Bush administration as a much stronger power,” he said. “First of all, we eliminated the primary blocking force to their west in Iraq. Secondly, we have been ineffective in using the broader tools of U.S. diplomacy and moral suasion in the region — and that’s allowed Iran to capture Hamas, displace Fatah and strengthen [its] grip on Hezbollah. … Without effective diplomatic engagement of Iran, we’ve allowed them to pursue a nuclear program that is likely aimed at achieving nuclear weapons. But we’ve refused to sit down and talk to them about it. … I still favor an effort to engage Iran, but the clock is ticking on their probable nuclear program. This makes everything much more complicated and difficult now.
Gen. Clark is becoming an outspoken critic of McCain and his claims to experience. Does he, Clark, have a plan for the future; maybe VP or Sec of Defense?