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Wesley Clark's unlikely ally
WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, did not study foreign policy at invitation-only seminars underwritten by major foundations. Nor was he ever the favorite protege of a powerful, senior diplomat. For him, there was never to be a junior year abroad. No, as a 20-year old high-school dropout from Harlem, Cpl. Charles Rangel had a total immersion course in foreign policy in a place called Korea, when his outnumbered Army unit was overrun in combat by Chinese communist forces. For valor under fire, Charlie Rangel earned the Bronze Star. For wounds he sustained from enemy fire, Charlie Rangel was awarded the Purple Heart. Rangel is no professional veteran: "I got shot. I got out. I went back to high school. Never looked back, and I have never had a bad day since." Thanks to the GI Bill and his own hard work, he graduated with honors from New York University and St. John's Law School before winning election to the House in 1970. Today, Rangel, with unconcealed passion, speaks on two intimately related subjects: how much he opposes the entire U.S. war against Iraq, and how strongly he supports former Gen. Wesley Clark for president. "This war hurts and scares and pains me more than anything except combat," he admits. Speaking almost sadly, he tells of half a dozen nearly identical personal exchanges with President George W. Bush. Each time the president, with obvious sincerity, asks the same question: "Do you know, Charlie, why we're hated so much?" After Rangel confesses, "I really don't know, Mr. President," Mr. Bush answers his own question: "Because they're evil, Charlie. Because they're evil." Rangel believes the president and some close to him "decided that Saddam Hussein on September 11 offered the perfect target to cut this evil of animosity out of civilization, democracy and the world." But there was one major problem, according to the New York Democrat: "They had no idea what the hell they were doing. They had no idea what it would cost -- no idea that little countries with no money and a lot of pride would tell us to go straight to hell." The onetime Army enlisted man detests the big picture, big thinkers who argue that, for the United States, "the only way to have creditability is to be willing to kill and to die." Of such theoreticians, Rangel asks: "Do you know anyone who is going to die? Who the hell are you talking about? Some nameless, paid gladiators?" Would a reinstituted military draft, advocated in legislation by Rangel and Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-South Carolina, have made any difference in the pre-war debate or the vote on the war in Congress? "You bet your bottom dollar," says Rangel, offering the typical reaction from a Hill colleague: "'I believe we have to fight. I believe we have to die. But good God, man, you mean my son? My grandson? You mean someone in my neighborhood? I'm going to have to go to the funeral? Let's take another look at this.'" But then, Rangel saw "this general on TV, and the general is not a right-wing Republican." But why Wesley Clark? "Most of all, I want someone to say to the world: 'I'm an American. I'm a former four-star general. I love my country. I'm president of the United States. Can we talk?'" And what would the reaction be? "They're going to fall all over themselves, saying, 'Thank you, buddy, I've been waiting for you.' They're even going to say, like after a marital spat: 'I said some hurtful things I didn't mean. I was only trying to get your attention.'" How important is military service to his candidate's chances? "Clark is intimidating to anyone who did not serve our country." Clark should know this about Rangel. In 1984, Rangel endorsed Walter Mondale for president over Jesse Jackson, who drew enormous support from African American voters. Many African American politicians, anxious to avoid accusations of disloyalty to a presidential candidate of their own race, rushed to jump on the Jackson bandwagon. Not Charlie Rangel. He stuck with Fritz Mondale. He's the kind of guy you want to have with you in a foxhole.
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