Clark Wears Campaign Medals From Two Fronts

In his high-visibility role in the Balkans and with his close ties to civilian leaders in the Clinton administration, Clark had drawn fire, in part because of a false assumption that he had ties to another Rhodes scholar from Arkansas, Bill Clinton. And Clark was criticized for meeting and exchanging gifts with Gen. Ratko Mladic in 1994. Mladic was a Bosnian Serb leader later indicted on war crimes charges.

Some who know him said part of Clark's problem with some in the military is that he rose swiftly, moved aggressively to get what he wanted, and drew public attention.

Col. David Hackworth, a retired Army officer turned commentator, disparaged Clark in a 1999 column as "known to those who've served with him as the Ultimate Perfumed Prince." But in an e-mail exchange, Hackworth said he no longer believed that characterization of Clark to be accurate. "Withdrew it after I read [Clark's] new book and did further research," Hackworth wrote, adding that he recently interviewed Clark "and came away very impressed."

Clark's newest book, "Winning Modern Wars," examines the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and is due out in October.

The general who served with Clark in the 1990s thinks Clark's fast rise early in his career may have caused his superiors to start holding him back when he reached the upper rungs. Clark raced through the early promotions, but he needed more than six years to make it from colonel to brigadier general, the general said.

Officials said Clark's outspokenness also got him in trouble.

During this year's war in Iraq, speaking as a CNN commentator, Clark faulted the Pentagon. In late March, when the advance of U.S. forces had slowed because of bad weather and long supply lines, Clark pointed out that the Pentagon had been too optimistic about Iraqi cooperation, and would have been better off with more troops.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., an advocate of Clark, is among those who insist the general is not a credit hog, and no tougher to work for than other aggressive commanders. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower "had the same kind of relationship with people around him; he had to get a job done, so he would never suffer fools."

Scales, a former commandant of the Army War College, believes Clark suffered fallout from some superiors' annoyance at his fast rise. Commanders got into a habit of throwing more and more difficult tasks at Clark, to the point that "I'd almost have to say they were hoping that he would fail," Scales said.