jmfcst:
You should have looked at the actual speech before taking Drudge at his word. See those ellipses on the transcript? They skip thosands of words from Clark's speech.
Here are some more quotes from Clark, from the SAME SPEECH, wich paint quite a different picture.
"The president and his national security team have got to deploy imagination, leverage and patience in working through the United Nations. In the near term, time is on our side and we should endeavor to use the United Nations if at all possible..."
"We have to work this problem in a way to gain worldwide legitimacy and understanding for the concerns that we rightly feel and for our leadership. This is what U.S. leadership in the world must be. We must bring others to share our views, not be too quick to rush to try to impose them even if we have the power to do so. I agree that there's a risk that the inspections would fail to provide evidence of the weapons program. They might fail, but I think we can deal with this problem as we move along, and I think the difficulties of dealing with this outcome are more than offset by the opportunities to gain allies, support and legitimacy in the campaign against Saddam Hussein."
"If the efforts to resolve the problem by using the United Nations fail, either initially or ultimately, then we need to form the broadest possible coalition including our NATO allies and the North Atlantic Council if we're going to have to bring forces to bear. We should not be using force until the personnel, the organizations, the plans that will be required for post conflict Iraq, are prepared and ready."
"So, all that having been said, the option to use force must remain on the table. It should be used as the last resort after all diplomatic means have been exhausted unless there's information that indicates that a further delay would represent an immediate risk to the assembled forces and organizations."
[Source:
http://www.mediawhoresonline.net/ar011904.htm]
Shorter Clark: "We might have to use force against Saddam, but it should be a last resort, after all dimplomatic means have failed, after we've gotten a coalition with NATO and established legitamacy, and only after we have got a plan for post-conflict Iraq. We're not at that point."
Not exactly gung-ho for war like Drudge paints him.
