France's Le Monde published an interview with Gen. Clark last Thursday. Here's my translation:

Wes returns yet again, March 11, to UCLA Burkle Center for a Conference on Rogue States and how best to address them via our foreign policy.

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ROGUE STATES CONFERENCE PART I-

I arrived on campus around 2:30, just as the ABC and CBS trucks were packing up their gear to pull out (I have this effect on the media….) After Bill Richardson’s address – which I could not attend. I snuck into the large conference hall just as Panel 3 had gotten underway and grabbed the nearest seat in the back of the room – trusty recorder in hand. Dr. Suphamnonghkhuo (hereafter known as “Dr. S”) was discussing the famous six party talks with N. Korea while a man two rows in front of me was busily scrolling through his Blackberry…. Waitaminute! I know the back of that head--It’s Wes! And of course- I somehow always find myself lurking just behind him, over his shoulder, making it all the more difficult to dispel that notion of me being a Zelig-ian Wes-stalker. He turned around at one point -- smiled and waved. “Hi Wes!”. I mouthed. He must be used to looking behind him in L.A. by now to find the obligatory blond with tape recorder and notebook….

Picking up where we left off-- in the jam packed 2nd story classroom at UCLA Public Affairs Bldg- Wes had just finished telling his slipping on the icy runway story from his own Presidential campaign of 2004. He recounted how the photographer had caught him, sure enough, at just the worst moment. The whole room cracked up with his physical reenactment of the slide, then settled down for the next sobering question from a young man who asks;

Q: What’s your opinion of John McCain’s foreign policy?

It wasn’t until right before Wes was scheduled to speak that I learned I would be able to attend. The event had been booked full already for days, and I had meetings to move around even if I could go. After a series of frantic last minute calls to UCLA media relations dept and then to the public affairs offices-- I finally got my clearance at the very last minute. I dropped everything to dash off to UCLA-- in record time.

Great Day for a Hike

Well, Wes addressed members of the Oxonian Society in NYC this evening. It was a wonderfully intimate affair, with seats for only about 100. The room was full, with a number of folks standing when all of the seats were taken. Among the audience were three new Oxonians -- me, Gordon and Perry Barber (a fascinating woman who umpires Major League Baseball games and makes great T-shirts). We’d all joined after we’d seen Wes was scheduled to speak.

Summer is rolling on and Labor Day is approaching. George Bush and Dick Cheney are now almost certainly the least popular President and Vice President team in American History. John McCain, the G.O.P. pretender to the throne who once was feared as the only man with sufficient stature and integrity to convince the American public to renew the Republican lease on the White House, has departed center stage after a war vote malfunction stripped bare his passion for the Iraq surge, exposing him as unelectable in the Super Bowl of politics.

The DJ, Bob, introduced Gen. Clark as a former General then corrected himself saying, "Well, no one is ever a 'former' General," (good on him), former Commander of the Kosovo War and NATO Allied Commander.
Gen. Clark talked about the troop surge and continued problems in Iraq. He reminded listeners that "everyone" is saying that the war cannot be won by military alone but that broad and robust diplomacy was needed. Wes pointed out that Bushco was not putting forth the effort needed for diplomacy to work.

Link

July 12, 2007

Roll over the icons on the right to access full event footage from each panel and speaker.

The Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation hosted the “America in the World” conference to explore how the United States can restore its leadership for a more peaceful, prosperous, and secure world.

The conference brought together leading thinkers from government, academia, the military, and the non-governmental sector to discuss the peace and security issues that will shape the public agenda over the coming years. Keynote speakers included former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. Panel discussions focused on four topics: energy and the environment, the Middle East, America’s defense posture, and the global economy.

<snip>

The neocons have selected the designated next enemy of the United States, and they are hard at work convincing Americans to fear Iran. The public comments we just heard Joe Lieberman utter about the need to bomb Iran are just the tip of the iceberg. They position populist right wing pitch man Glen Beck on the air nightly at CNN Headline News, ranting about Iran. They pepper Jewish media with polemics about Iran, playing up fears for Israel’s security where few non Jews will notice their efforts.

For those of us who grew up as children of the Cold War; who can recall scrambling for cover beneath our school desks in air raid drills should we be attacked by nukes from Cuba... (Hey Mom.....Where’s Cuba?)

For those of us who thought those nightmares and daymares were but bad memories that we’d now advanced past into a new, more secure world-- more capable of protecting against such threats...