[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 58 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S3913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A TRIBUTE TO GENERAL WESLEY CLARK

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, last week, in a EUCOM change of 
command ceremony, General Wesley Clark relinquished his position as 
Supreme Allied Commander Europe, concluding one of his generation's 
most illustrious and eventful military careers. As he testifies before 
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today, I want to highlight 
the contributions of General Clark to the national security of the 
United States and to its friends and allies in Europe and around the 
globe, and thank him for his service to NATO as Supreme Allied 
Commander Europe.
  As NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson put it: Wes Clark has been 
the right man, in the right place, at the right time. He has been 
instrumental in bringing a degree of stability to Bosnia-Herzegovina, 
so that efforts at reconstruction and reconciliation could proceed. 
General Clark welcomed three new members to the Alliance and has worked 
tirelessly to integrate them fully--militarily and politically--into 
the activities and decision-making processes of the Alliance. The 
General has worked to turn the Partnerships for Peace into stepping 
stones rather than alternatives to Alliance membership, and he has kept 
the door open to new entrants, while setting forth high military 
standards for full integration.
  But nowhere have General Clark's political and leadership qualities 
been more evident than during NATO's Kosovo campaign. Having been a key 
participant in diplomatic efforts seeking a solution to Yugoslavia's 
ethnic turmoil and disintegration, General Clark changed hats without 
missing a beat and assumed command of the Alliance strategy to 
complement diplomacy with military power. General Clark's steadfast 
pursuit of military victory coupled with the maintenance of political 
cohesion in Alliance planning cells at NATO Headquarters brought the 
Western coalition to one of its finest hours in its 50-year history.
  Equally important, General Clark recognized that military success 
could not produce peace, prosperity and stability on the ground without 
an effective civil implementation program that allowed the peoples of 
the Balkans the tools to address their historical grievances toward one 
another. He knew that the political unity he helped to forge as a 
prerequisite to military success must now be sustained and strengthened 
if the civilianization process is to succeed.
  Secretary of Defense Cohen put it well at the EUCOM Change of Command 
ceremony last week in Europe. He said:

       In General Wes Clark, America found a scholar, a soldier 
     and a statesman: a scholar of unquestioned courage, a bronze 
     and silver star hero who, despite grievous wounds, inspired 
     his unit to survive in the jungles of Vietnam; a soldier of 
     insight who returned to train those who prevailed in Desert 
     Storm. He is a statesman whose influence has been felt from 
     the Americas where he helped to guide the fight against drug 
     barons to Dayton where his counsel helped end the 
     bloodletting in Bosnia.

  Those sentiments are shared by those of us in the Senate who have 
benefitted from General Clark's wise counsel over the years. He was 
never too busy for one more briefing at NATO Headquarters or in the 
field. When the relevant committees held their hearings, General Clark 
was on the plane so that he might address Congressional concerns across 
the table, not across the ocean.
  Members of both branches of government are now in the process of 
assimilating the ``lessons learned'' from the Kosovo campaign. General 
Clark has recently completed his own ``after action'' report. But for 
the United States, there is one incontrovertible lesson to be learned: 
If the history of the last year or so in the Balkans were to repeat 
itself, the United States and the Alliance would be well served by 
having Wes Clark again at the helm of a coalition of nations intent on 
defending their common interests.

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