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3/21/06 - General Clark on the Ed Shultz Show
General Wesley Clark on the Ed Schultz Show
Wes Clark: "It's about competence, Ed."
March 21, 2006
Ed Schultz: Wesley Clark with us, here on the Ed Schultz Show. General, great to have you back.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Great to be with you, Ed.
Ed Schultz: www.securingamerica.com and also General Clark is the board chairman of the IAVAPAC which, uh, these guys are just coming on in popularity and in strength. General, why are you hooked up with this group? I mean, this is…
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it’s a great thing when men and women who’ve served their country in combat will volunteer to continue to serve in things like government.
Ed Schultz: They are doing just that and they’re raising money and supporting folks who are running for office. Alright General, I want your impression of the President’s press conference today. He showed a high level of emotion and passion and really determined to see this mission through no matter what the circumstances are. What’s your….what do you take from that? Is it just more of the same or has this President just worked himself into a box that he can’t get out of? What do you think?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, he’s defending himself, I mean, and his own bad judgment in going to war in the first place. But I do think that once we put troops on the ground, it changes the situation. There’s no…you can’t just turn the clock back and say ‘gee, I wish the troops weren’t there’ and pull them back out. It just doesn’t work that way. So, the consequence of that is we’re going to have to continue to work the situation over in Iraq and do our best we can with it.
Ed Schultz: And, do you think today’s effort by the President is as much PR as it is anything else?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It was all PR. It’s not strategy.
Ed Schultz: And, so do you think this is going to resonate with the American people? Do you think he’ll bump in the polls on this?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I doubt it. The truth is, if he looks defensive, it’s a defensive effort. When the American people needed to hear the truth, before we went in… When they needed to hear the truth, before the election, President Bush would only deal with hand-picked audiences. Now that he’s in trouble, he’s reaching out. Well, I…I’m glad he’s reaching out but the record suggests that Americans, once they make up their
Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark with us. Well, his cell phone must have dumped out. We’ll try to reconnect with him here in a few moments. 934-6833.
We’ve reconnected with General Wesley Clark here on the Ed Schultz Show. General, again, thanks so much for your time.
There have been some comments made by the former general, Eaton - Major General Eaton who was in charge of training the Iraqi forces in Iraq – the security forces in ’03 and ’04. He has been very critical of Secretary Rumsfeld. Do you share that criticism?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think it’s true that Secretary Rumsfeld failed to devote the priorities and attention that were required to produce a trained Iraqi force. I don’t think Secretary Rumsfeld ever had a well-understood strategy that would work in Iraq.
Ed Schultz: So, would you think that Rumsfeld should resign?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think really that the fault lies with the President of the United States and what we’ve seen is a President whose Department of Homeland Security was ineffective in dealing with Katrina, whose Department of Defense has been ineffective in dealing with the array of problems associated with Iraq. We’ve seen a President whose White House staff has been ineffective in dealing with the Dubai ports issue and all of that…it’s what Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.” It stops with the President.
Ed Schultz: But, in the same sense
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It’s about competence, Ed.
Ed Schultz: Yeah, I believe that. I mean, this general pretty much said that Rumsfeld is pretty incompetent the way he described it. Uh, but the President is just bulldog-determined to keep these people in place. But I find it interesting that if we are pinning our strategy to get out of Iraq - when they stand up, we stand down - and this Major General was in charge of the security forces training and then he steps out of the military. The president says that he’s going to listen to those in the field. It sounds to me like there’s a scenario that’s been played out here that they’re not telling him the truth. What do you think?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: The President’s never listened to the people in the field. He’s listened to Rumsfeld who has assured him that he knew what the people in the field were saying. But what he’s done is he’s intimidated a lot of people in the field from…they know what the required answer is and a lot of them trim their sails when they talk to Rumsfeld. They know what the consequences will be if they tell it to him straight and, of course Rumsfeld plays on that. He makes them think they’re worry-warts. He makes them think they don’t have confidence in themselves. He pushes on them, gets them to say what he wants them to say. He’s a master at it.
Ed Schultz: Do you think that it would be like turning Germany back to the Nazis, in reference to Secretary Rumsfeld’s op-ed in the Washington Post over the weekend? Do you think if the United States were to redeploy or to move troops that it would be like handing it over to the Nazis?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It’s not a very good analogy. Instead, what is happening is Iraq is being handed over to Iran right now. With us there, participating.
If we don’t fix the political problem in Iraq, right now, by demanding that the Sunnis be given meaningful, responsible roles in government. And demanding that the constitution be changed so the Shias can’t hog the oil wealth and cut their own deals with Iran then we’re leaving in place the combustible material from explosive breakup of Iraq.
Ed Schultz: President says
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We’ve got to fix it now.
Ed Schultz: Yeah. The President says we’re not in a civil war – do you believe that?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, we are in a civil war, it’s just a question of how intense it is. When you’re only losing 40 or 50 people a day, maybe he can say it’s not a civil war but if you were in Baghdad and you were one of those families there, afraid to walk out on the street, people you know have been kidnapped and murdered, you’d think it was a civil war.
Ed Schultz: No question about it. General, great to have you on the program. I appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you very much, Ed. Bye now.
Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark with us. His website: www.securingamerica.com. He is also with the IAVAPAC which is endorsing candidates, veterans, who are running for office.
audio at www.securingamerica.com
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