As the former commander of NATO during the Bosnian conflict, retired Gen. Wesley Clark has taken to calling out John McCain for a variety of alleged shortcomings.

As has been well documented on this site, Clark made quite a few absurd statements during his Sunday appearance on “Face The Nation.”

“In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk,” Clark said “It’s a matter of gauging your opponents, and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions.

If by “gauging your opponent” he means hanging with war criminals like Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic, then I guess he’s right, John McCain hasn’t done that.

On Monday, Clark stuck to his guns and refused to apologize for his comments about McCain. He even made a few new points.

“John McCain is running his campaign on his experience and how his experience would benefit him and our nation as president. That experience shows courage and commitment to our country – but it doesn’t include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions,” Clark said. “And in this area his judgment has been flawed…”

“flawed judgment” are exactly the words that come to mind when I think about Wes Clark enjoying photo ops with war criminals like Ratko Mladic and accepting gifts from him that included a bottle of brandy, his hat, and a pistol.

For those who don’t know about Ratko Mladic, let’s just say he’s the last guy on earth a respectable officer in the United States military would ever accept a gift from.

At least every respectable officer except NATO commander, Gen. Wesley Clark who’s pictured above wearing Mladic’s hat. Yes, that is Clark’s hat with his 4 stars on it sitting atop the war criminals head. Notice the rather unenthusiastic look on the British commanders face as he stands there for that unfortunate picture.

Mladić was indicted on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in connection with the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of around 8,300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys on July 11, 1995 at Srebrenica.

He took a page right out of Hitler’s playbook with that one. The movie “Behind Enemy Lines” with Owen Wilson is partially based on the horrific war crimes perpetrated by Ratko Mladic.

So excuse me while I attempt to control my laughter when Clark lectures John McCain about “flawed judgment.” He’s lecturing a man who had the chance to leave that Hanoi pit of hell he was in after just two years of captivity.

McCain refused and said he wasn’t leaving without the other men, which resulted in his continued imprisonment for another 3 1/2 years much of which was spent in solitary confinement. He was brutally tortured every day and cannot raise his arms above his mid-chest even today as a result of it.

He was hung in the air with his arms behind him for sometimes as long as two days which permanently destroyed his shoulders.

If “judgment” is really what the Obama campaign wants to talk about, Clark is a piss poor surrogate to have that conversation.

(hat tip to Michelle for bringing this to my attention)