Democrats and Republicans pandering for the Puerto Rican vote pressured wishy-washy President Bush to torpedo the Navy's bombing practice on Vieques despite the risk to servicemen and national security. And Democrats are furious that would-be president Wesley Clark disagreed with them.
Clark is "in conflict on the emotional issue with one of his most important backers in Congress - Rep. Charles Rangel," the New York Post reported today.
"I hope that when he's elected, over a drink I can give him hell over Vieques," said Rangel, D-N.Y.
"I have to admit there's been very difficult issues I've raised with [Clark]. Some of his positions have been very Republican. I don't like that at all."
When the nouveau Democrat commanded NATO, he noted that live-fire practice bombing on Vieques was crucial for combat readiness.
"I fully support every possible effort to continue the training at Vieques," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2000.
"To provide our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen with less than this optimum training in the future would be unconscionable, cause undue casualties and place our nation's vital interests at risk," he wrote in 1999.
During the Clinton administration, he opposed a four-month bombing moratorium because sailors and Marines "may not be fully combat ready" without Vieques' "realistic live-fire strike-warfare training."
Despite all that, Clark's mentor Hillary Clinton was one of the loudest voices calling for the Navy's ouster from the island.
Perhaps the retired general will realize his dream of time travel and go back a few years to change his testimony.
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