Retired four-star general joins Mahoney on campaign trail

October 18, 2006 By MICHELLE SHELDONE | TC Palm

A retired four-star general and former presidential hopeful traveled coast to coast in Florida Tuesday for Democratic congressional candidate Tim Mahoney and promoting national security.

General Wesley Clark, a Vietnam Army captain turned NATO supreme allied commander who had been instrumental in the Dayton peace talks that ended the Bosnian war, said the country is on the brink of a national disaster.

"We didn't have to go to Iraq," Clark said in rallies held in Charlotte and Palm Beach counties Tuesday. "It's a war we chose to go into. And then we didn't put enough troops in. It's a failing mission despite the courage and sacrifice of the men and women in uniform."

Mahoney, at the rallies, called himself one of the first to state publicly that President George W. Bush should rely on diplomacy and multinational forces in Iraq, and replace American peacekeepers with Muslim peacekeepers.

"My new opponent came out and accused me of trashing the president," Mahoney said of Republican congressional Candidate Joe Negron. Bush confidant James Baker in the meantime recently made a suggestion similar to that of Mahoney, the Democratic candidate said.

Clark told of North Korea readying for another nuclear weapons test and Iran's desire for nuclear weapons. United States military forces are overstretched, he said, with some men and women on their third and fourth tours of duty as a result of Iraq.

"As the administration pushes North Korea with coercive sanctions, it should be aware the North Koreans — they don't bluff. When they get backed into a corner, they may lash out. It's a very volatile and dangerous situation."

At the same time, Clark told of how Republicans get "juiced up" about weapon systems, while Democrats get "real excited" about people.

His words came as the congressional race entered the national spotlight since disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley resigned and state Rep. Joe Negron was named in his place.

"It's a campaign now where we have a struggle between House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Karl Rove," Mahoney said. "They've marshaled tremendous forces to try to hold on to power by attacking me personally. By lying about my position on Social Security. By lying about my position on taxes.

They handpicked a candidate, a professional politician whose first public statement was that he believed this campaign was going be a referendum on supporting the president. He wants to stay the course. He believes the strategies being employed right now are the correct strategies."

Mahoney said he supports Bush's goals for winning the war on terror, stopping nuclear proliferation, achieving peace in Iraq and making America safe.

But "after 9/11, I think what we can clearly see is we need a new strategy," Mahoney said.