Army says transcript is proof Cohen
gave OK for Clark's Kosovo medal
By Jon R. Anderson,
Stars and Stripes
HEIDELBERG, Germany — The Army is refuting claims by Clinton administration
Defense Secretary William Cohen that the former Pentagon chief had nothing to do with
granting retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark a special waiver for the controversial Kosovo
Campaign Medal.
Cohen said he had no memory of approving a waiver that Clark would have needed before
the medal was pinned on during his retirement ceremony last year.
Although Clark commanded the international alliance that pushed Yugoslav forces out of
Kosovo, a regulations snafu prevented him — along with thousands of others who
participated in the campaign — from earning the medal.
Although Army officials say they cannot find an official "paper trail" that
would prove the matter definitively, they have released a transcript of Clark’s
retirement ceremony.
"By direction of the Secretary of Defense, the Kosovo Campaign Medal is awarded to
General Wesley K. Clark for his participation and outstanding leadership during the Kosovo
Air Campaign," reads the transcript.
As Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki pinned the award on, onlookers and
well-wishers were told Clark was being awarded "the first Kosovo Campaign Medal
minted and authorized for presentation to members of the [a]rmed [f]orces."
While Army officials say there’s no sign of the waiver in Clark’s records,
they believe Cohen at the very least gave verbal approval for the award.
"I think the transcript speaks for itself," said Army spokeswoman Col.
Stephanie Hoehne.
Called for comment, Cohen spokesman H.K. Park reiterated that Cohen "doesn’t
remember doing anything special for Clark," but added the former defense secretary
was approving "a lot of medals at the time."
It’s no secret that Cohen and Clark did not see eye to eye. In fact, in his new
book "Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the future of Combat," Clark blasts
Cohen and other Pentagon decision-makers for their lack of support during the Kosovo
conflict.
That Clark needed a waiver at all, however, confuses many.
Despite objections from the U.S. European Command and the Air Force in particular, the
Defense Department crafted eligibility criteria that left thousands of servicemembers who
directly supported the campaign without recognition after the Kosovo Campaign Medal was
created two years ago.
Although the medal is designed to honor those who participated in the 78-day effort,
only those who actually served in and around the Balkans are eligible for the award.
That means if you were a flight line wrench-turner in Italy or an intelligence analyst
in Albania you got the medal, but if you did identical jobs in England, Belgium, Germany,
Spain or Turkey — where thousands deployed and worked to support the air campaign
— you did not get the medal.
In fact, the European Command has requested about 22,000 waivers to the medal criteria
for those who supported the campaign outside of the Balkans region.
The request is awaiting consideration by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which will forward
its recommendation to Cohen’s Bush administration replacement, Donald H. Rumsfeld,
for final decision.
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