Letter to Wesley Clark

Letter to Wesley Clark

thirtyplus has posted a great letter, begging Wesley Clark to run for president in 2008, that captures the opinions of myself, and many other Clarkies.

I have never met you; it is likely that I never will. But having studied your positions, your record of military and political service, and seen many televised speeches and interviews with you, I can say with absolute certainty that you inspire more trust and confidence in me than any political or public figure I have ever seen.
I believe you are one of the great warriors of the modern age; and as a true warrior, your thoughts are not of conquest and power, but of peace, discipline and justice. True warriors understand that deadly force is a horrible power; and although I grew up during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and was exposed every night to the video-game-like images of "precision" and "surgical" bombings, my own training in the martial arts has instilled in me a deep abhorrence of lethal violence, and the understanding that there is rarely, if ever, anything "surgical" or "clean" about its application – nor are there any situations where it is the "only" option.
I believe that you, among all the politicians who have a chance to lead our country into the future, understand this most intimately and fully.
The current war the country is engaged in is ruinous – both to the nation of Iraq, the region of the Middle East, and the United States of America. If our country is to ever return to its envied position of chief among the superpowers, our extrication from this horrific war must be handled with diplomatic skill and acumen. I believe you, of all the potential Presidential candidates, possess the greatest measures of those skills.