BRASS AMBITION

摘要

While the politicians call him General, the generals call him a politician. He once boasted of knowing the cholesterol level of all the officers vying with him for a promotion. The view of Wesley Clark as a hyper-ambitious, political general is widespread within the military, and though some officers decry those qualities, such traits might be just the thing for a presidential candidate. Right now, Clark's resume is his platform, and he wins high marks from former colleagues for his intelligence and innovation, though not for his warmth or generosity to fellow officers. They praise him for improving the way the Army trains its commanders and for settling age-old hatreds in the Balkans by diplomacy when possible, by force when necessary. Clark's new book, Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire, casts his trained eye on the Bush Administration's policy of nearly unilateral preemption and makes a cogent case for multilateralism. The book and Clark's military record offer insights into how good a general he was-and what kind of President he might be.