Wesley Clark Quotes
It 's really hard to impose democracy. It has to emerge naturally. You have to get out of the way and let it happen.
Clark, Wesley. Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire. PublicAffairs, 2003.
The United States was opposed to elections at the beginning of the Vietnam war. The Viet Min, the Russian and Chinese recognized government of Ho Chi Min, was extremely well organized as a result of their cohesive organization and victory over the French Colonialists. At the urging of the French, we supported the previous Vietnam Emperor who the French had supported. However his popularity was limited to Saigon and French Colonial centers. The majority of the population saw him as the collaborator who was propped up by the hated French. There was no way that the Communist Viet Min would lose in an election. There had been no time for the people to see what peacetime living under the communists was like, and what they knew of the Emperor, they did not like. It was important to keep Vietnam from falling into the hands of the Communists. Once they won one election they would control the machinery of government to be sure that they won all subsequent elections even if the people wanted a change in government. The German newspaper thought that we should stick to our principles and allow a free election and live with the consequences. In retrospect, we would be where we ended up anyway with the Communist Viet Min in totalitarian control of the country and we would have saved many lives and much money.
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr. is a retired general of the United States Army. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the U.S. Army, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
