Born in Chicago in 1944, General Clark grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated first in his class at West Point in 1966. He also earned a Master's Degree from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a Masters Degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He is also a graduate of the Ranger and Airborne schools.
During thirty-four years of service in the United States Army Wesley K. Clark rose to the rank of four-star general as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.
In his final military command, General Clark commanded Operation Allied Force, NATO's first major combat action, which saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and he was responsible for the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia.
General Clark is a recipient of numerous military awards, including the Silver Star and Purple Heart. In August 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He is the author of the best selling book Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat (Public Affairs, New York, NY 2001) and Winning Modern War: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire (Public Affairs, New York, NY 2003).
General Clark currently serves in leadership roles with a number of non-profit public service organizations, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Distinguished Senior Adviser), the Center for American Progress (Trustee), the International Crisis Group (Board Member), City Year Little Rock (Board Chair), the National Endowment for Democracy (Board Member), the United States Institute of Peace (United Nations Task Force Member), and the General Accountability Office (Advisory Board Member).
There is a battle going on today that is more compelling than any reality show on TV. It has drama, conflict, and an uncertain outcome. The television audience chooses the winner. The prize is freedom.
A small but well-organized group of political operatives is denying our freedom to choose for ourselves -- to choose what we watch in our own homes based on our personal standards and tastes. These people are stretching common sense to the breaking point and missing the fact that we can be trusted to make our own decisions.
During thirty-four years in the U.S. Army, I have seen with my own eyes the courage of our soldiers under fire, and the horrors of the battlefield. D-Day was a pivotal moment in our nation's fight to liberate Europe from Nazi rule. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks did our soldiers a great service by masterfully recreating the drama, heroism and heartbreak of that chapter of our history.
While "Saving Private Ryan" enjoyed an audience of millions, this professionally organized team of zealots has an audience of just one, but it is one that counts: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Here's what's happening:
This past Veterans Day, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), honored America's vets -- for a third straight year -- by airing "Saving Private Ryan." But this time, many ABC affiliates were denied the opportunity to share the story with millions of their viewers because of a few objections to the realistic violence and language in the film.
People may not realize that local stations are small businesses, and because FCC fines range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, they must take precautions -- or risk being forced out of business. Accordingly, theses stations asked the FCC for a ruling.
How did the FCC respond?
Silence. They didn't say anything. They left the stations hanging out to dry.
So, 66 ABC affiliates, understandably unwilling to risk it all, chose not to air "Saving Private Ryan," leaving millions of people unable to share that Veterans Day experience. Subsequently, we all are left living under the specter of de-facto censorship.
Just recently, four months later, the FCC ruled in favor of "Saving Private Ryan." However, their strategic silence has done its damage to our Democracy. Those 66 stations were bullied out of airing "Saving Private Ryan," depriving nearly one-third of the country from seeing it. The zealots achieved their goal by using the fear of fines as a political tool -- and our government played along.
Regrettably, this is not the only time this tactic has been utilized effectively.
Emboldened by their success, these special interest groups used the threat of FCC fines to pressure many cash-strapped PBS affiliates into airing a sanitized version of a "Frontline" documentary about our American fighting force in Iraq. This is wholly unacceptable in a free society because it denies us the ability to know for ourselves what it means to wage war.
With the help of industry standards, ratings, warnings and v-chip technology, viewers have the tools we need to make informed decisions about what we choose to watch in our own homes. We can make these decisions without the interference of the politically-charged FCC.
War is brutal. Even masterful war films such as "Private Ryan" clearly are not suitable for everyone. The right to make that decision ourselves, however, does belong to everyone. That right was secured by the sacrifice of the fighting men portrayed in "Private Ryan" and by all of us who have served in America's armed forces.
We deserve a government that will stand up to the small but well-organized groups who protested "Saving Private Ryan" as indecent. There is nothing indecent about fighting for the liberation and freedom of Europe. As to the decency of the depiction portrayed in "Private Ryan," the right to make that decision belongs to us.
Our government should respect those sacrifices and recognize that the real indecency is when a small minority of organizers can use their connections to keep films like "Saving Private Ryan" off the air and the people's institutions such as the FCC are, at best, mute -- and, at worst, complicit with the undoing of one of our most precious freedoms.
Like the best reality shows, this is a drama where we, the audience, have the power to determine the winner in this struggle. Deciding the winner is an important question that each of us has to answer -- and should not be taken lightly, or be taken away from us.
Take Action: Tell FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to stand up against the censorship efforts of radical zealots.
Born in Chicago in 1944, General Clark grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated first in his class at West Point in 1966. He also earned a Master's Degree from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a Masters Degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He is also a graduate of the Ranger and Airborne schools.
