Hello Everyone:

Here is the transcript of Gen. Clark on CNN earlier this morning being interviewed about Afghanistan:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/01/ltm.02.html

AMERICAN MORNING

Investigation Widens on Garrido; Wildfires Rage in Southern California; Ridge Claims Terror Chart Never Manipulated for Political Reasons; SAT Test Prep Big business; Officials Say Afghanistan's War Serious But Success Sustainable; Health Care Make Or Break

Aired September 1, 2009 - 07:00 ET

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: "Well, the top U.S. commander on the ground in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal says the situation in Afghanistan is serious, but that success is achievable. Now, that statement comes just as he delivered a new confidential report that said to detail a revised strategy to beat the Taliban. So what could this mean for the Pentagon's mission in Afghanistan? We bring in now former NATO Supreme allied commander and former democratic presidential candidate, retired four-star general, Wesley Clark. General Clark, good to see you this morning.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPERME ALLIED COMMANDER: Thank you. It's good to be with you.

CHETRY: So we're getting pieces of little excerpts from this 60- page strategic assessment, as it's called, of the U.S. mission going on in Afghanistan. And as he said, General McChrystal acknowledged that the conditions were serious there, but also said that success is achievable. Do you agree with that assessment, first of all, that success in Afghanistan is something that the U.S. can achieve?

CLARK: Well, absolutely. It's theoretically possible to achieve success. The question is how you define it. And so I think it's a very good thing that he's written the report. I hope we'll see a lot of it public. What we've seen so far makes imminent good sense. There are many of us who have said for a long time that it's not about body count. You can't just win by killing Taliban. You've got to provide hope, you've got to provide a rationale for the Karzai government or for democratic government there. You've got to provide economic development.

But here's the thing to look for. The question is, what's the defeat mechanism of the Taliban and how does it actually work? Because our real enemy is al Qaeda, and they're in Pakistan. And unless we can do something about al Qaeda in Pakistan, the efforts in Afghanistan are going to be incredibly long and difficult and frustrating. And when you add American troops and more troops and the rumors are he may need some more and it wouldn't surprise me if he's asked for some more, because, frankly, we're undermanned given the scale of the country and the range of difficulties.

But when you put more troops in, you take more casualties. And when you take more American casualties, the clock ticks faster, ending the sustainability of the mission. So you have to have at the core of this report a defeat mechanism. What is it that's going to turn the tide and shift? And it has to involve something about going after the enemy that we're really there to fight, which is al Qaeda in Pakistan.

CHETRY: And that proves to be a tough situation, as we've talked about before, Pakistan as a sovereign nation. They've said that they're helping us. They've tried to put troops in there. They've tried to root out in some of the mountainous areas between the two countries. But we don't really have any control over what our troops can do in Pakistan, do we?

CLARK: Well, we're doing the predator strikes and if you were to try to learn from the Vietnam experience, you would look back on Vietnam and say, we had - we were fighting the Vietcong in south Vietnam and they had cross border sanctuary in Cambodia and in north Vietnam and in Laos and we waited too long. We waited until we'd lost public support to take more powerful military measures that actually struck at the heart of the leadership and logistics of the insurgency. We have to be careful, every situation is different, but maybe there's a lesson to be learned there.

CHETRY: Well, you talked about, we waited too long until public opinion shifted. There's an August "Washington Post"/ABC News poll showing that 51 percent of Americans who were asked believed that Afghanistan is not worth fighting and only 24 percent said that more troops should be sent to the country.

It's a war that Americans don't seem to want to continue, at least the majority of Americans don't seem to want to continue, so how does that impact and how big of a factor should that be for this administration?

CLARK: Well, I think it has to be a very important aspect of their considerations in Washington. Whether it's a consideration in the field or not is a different matter. But Washington has to maintain American public support for this war. I think the way to do that is to go back to the specific reason we're there, al Qaeda attacked the United States. We haven't taken out al Qaeda as a threat yet. We need to do that.

And so the more directly we can focus this mission against al Qaeda, I believe, the greater support we'll gain from the American public. Now General McChrystal is not responsible for Pakistan, so it's a little tricky to work all this into the report.

CHETRY: Right. It's also tricky though to talk about whether or not Afghan troops will be able to make a dent in the situation. Because one of the things that apparently is going to be called for, at least this is being reported, some of the civilian advisers who helped McChrystal contribute with this report are pressing the administration to double the amount of Afghan forces. They want 400,000. But are they up to the task if you say the real enemy is fighting al Qaeda in Pakistan.

CLARK: Well, with proper training, with the right protection for their families, with the right compensation, with the right cause and legitimacy to fight for, with the right discreditation of the Taliban, yes, an Afghan force could be built and certainly have the manpower to do it. We need the resources. We need the time. We need the leadership to put it all together, both American leadership, NATO leadership, and Afghan leadership. These aren't easy problems.

CHETRY: No, not at all. I want to get your opinion on this because conservative columnist George Will had an interesting column today and he basically called the win not winnable. He said that our strategy which is clear hold and build does not make any sense because the Taliban just waits until we're out of an area, just vanishes into the mountainous terrain and then comes back in later. Do you agree with his assessment that it's very, very difficult to use that strategy and to have it equal success in Afghanistan? He also points out especially with a weak national government.

CLARK: Well, I think that there are a lot of factors that make this a very, very difficult mission. But the point is that you can't win it just inside Afghanistan. You've got to deal with Pakistan and you've got to deal with the enemy base there and with Al Qaeda. And I think it's up to the administration to define the task in such a way that the American people can understand it.

George Will would be the first one to say we shouldn't let terrorists have a foothold and come out and attack the United States with impunity again, as they did before 2001. So we've got to handle this problem. This is not a problem we can simply wish away. But we have to handle it with real awareness of the difficulty in Afghanistan, the fact that the enemies across the border in Pakistan, and all of that entails in terms of diplomacy in the region.

CHETRY: All right. Well, great to get your take this morning, General Wesley Clark, thanks so much for being with us.

CLARK: Thank you very much..."

Gen. Clark mentioned the same key concepts in this interview that Michael Ware reported back in July when he said today "You can't just win by killing Taliban. You've got to provide hope, you've got to provide a rationale for the Karzai government or for democratic government there. You've got to provide economic development" and "But the point is that you can't win it just inside Afghanistan. You've got to deal with Pakistan and you've got to deal with the enemy base there and with Al Qaeda:"

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/17772

Michael Ware: "America cannot win the war in Afghanistan with bombs and bullets"

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 10, 2009 - 1:47pm.

Here is the link to George Will's article that was referenced in this interview:

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will090109.php3

Jewish World Review Sept. 1, 2009 11 Elul 5769

Time to Get Out of Afghanistan

By George Will

"U.S. forces are being increased by 21,000, to 68,000, bringing the coalition total to 110,000. About 9,000 are from Britain, where support for the war is waning. Counterinsurgency theory concerning the time and the ratio of forces required to protect the population indicates that, nationwide, Afghanistan would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more. That is inconceivable..."

Here is the link to General Stanley McChrystal's quote that was also referenced in this interview:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/01/report_lays_groundwork_for_us_troop_increase_in_afghanistan/

Report signals US troop hike in Afghanistan
Top general seeks overhaul of war strategy

By Julian E. Barnes
Los Angeles Times / September 1, 2009

WASHINGTON - "A top US and allied commander set the stage for a recommendation to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan, calling yesterday for an overhaul in strategy to help stem losses that began during the Bush administration and have accelerated in recent months.

In a brief statement about his internal report, released by the command in Afghanistan, General Stanley A. McChrystal acknowledged that turning the war around would be difficult.

“The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort,’’ McChrystal said..."

Gen. Clark's interview was excellent in my opinion. I could not find a video of this interview on CNN or anywhere else yet but I will include a video in this post as soon as I see that it is available.

Mitch Dworkin

http://mitchdworkin.com/
Check out my new political website!

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16039
RESOURCES: Speeches, Articles, and Career Highlights to help define Gen. Clark!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 7, 2008 - 2:51pm.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!