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Posted to Robbedvoter's weblog (News and Links) on Thu Jan 1st, 2004 at 10:37:43 AM EST
SPACE-SAVER
by Michael Crowley
Candidate: Wesley Clark
Category: General Likeability
Grade: A
It's been said that Clark is insufferably arrogant, a man happiest in front of the mirror. So you might think that his lengthy new autobiography, Winning Modern Wars, would take the time to detail one of the most bravely heroic moments of his life.
The episode in question was detailed in a profile of Clark in today's Boston Globe. The Globe's Michael Kranish recounts how Clark responded in 1995 when a French armored personnel carrier, part of a convoy Clark was riding in to Sarajevo, plunged off a mountain road. "Suddenly, shooting broke out, followed by explosions," Kranish writes. "The noise may have been Serbian gunners, or the munitions in the French vehicle, or both." Clark, then a senior general, didn't flinch. "Clark found a rope, tied it around a tree, and rappelled to the burning vehicle," Kranish continues. "'Bring a fire extinguisher!' Clark yelled, according to
Clark couldn't save any lives--he returned from the ravine to report that the casualties below were "the worst thing you've ever seen." But the point here is not so much Clark's bravery. It's how he treats the incident in his book. As Kranish puts it: "It was one of the most extraordinary, difficult, and dangerous days of Clark's life. Yet in his 479-page autobiography, Clark devotes less than one paragraph to it. In an interview ... Clark explained that Holbrooke had described the event already, and that he had some space constraints in his autobiography."
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