General Wesley Clark on "Your World with Neil Cavuto"
June 1, 2006
Transcript by Reg NYC
Neil Cavuto: The media's all over the alleged incident at Haditha. The word massacre's splashed across headlines in almost all major newspapers today across the globe but virtually no coverage of the daily savage attacks by insurgents on Iraqi civilians and our own troops. So, why is that?
With us now is retired General Wesley Clark. He is also a Fox News contributor. General, Thank you for coming.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good to be with you Neil.
Neil Cavuto: The, I, you read everything. I know that, because, you know, you're a voracious reader, and you must have noticed to same thing I did.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I see coverage every day of the attacks on US troops and on Iraqi civilians. It's covered every day. It's horrible.
Neil Cavuto: To the degree that this Haditha scandal, whatever you want to call it?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I can't tell you- I did not read Iraqi newspapers today, and I don't know how much that's gotten coverage over there, but I'll tell you this.
Neil Cavuto: Banner headline in Le Monde, banner headline in London Times.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Its a real, it's a real indicator of some kind of difficulty that we've had. It's an isolated incident, that's for sure. 99.9% of our troops over there are performing incredibly well, but when something like this happens, you're going to get a black eye and worse. It's a very, very bad thing.
Neil Cavuto: I can understand if it's a bad thing, it, it, it-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Assuming it's true. I mean, everybody says it's true.
Neil Cavuto: Very good point. Assuming it's true and, and it's another My Lai deal, absolutely it's a bad, bad thing. Why do you think the global media, though, rushes to the negative before fleshing it out.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I saw a lot of coverage when the Iraqi cabinet was presented, you know, and so forth. There was a lot of positive, positive on that. And I think this is just one of those indicators that people say, 'Is the United States in trouble?' And they seize on it, and they say, 'This could be an indicator that discipline's breaking down in the force.'
Neil Cavuto: Do you think that's the case?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Could be an indicator that there's deeper problems. It's an indicator of a command failure in some respect. It's a, the notion, you know, from you're a political guy, and you know that the coverup is always a problem. And in this case you've got only, not only the massacre.
It didn't happen yesterday. It happened in November. So, there's allegations of coverup.
Question is how far up did the chain of command know this. Was there a coverup?
So, there are a lot of disturbing aspects of this. I stand 100% behind our troops over there. I think they're terrific. They've come up with some incr- they've done incredible things over there that they were never trained to do, they're not equipped to do.
And to be honest with you, and I've said this on many of these Fox programs, they don't get the support that- from the administration that they really need in terms of a regional diplomatic strategy to protect them.
Neil Cavuto: From the administration.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Absolutely not.
Neil Cavuto: They don't get the support in the world press, General. That's what we're talking about here.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: They don't get support from the administration.
Neil Cavuto: They don't get- You talk about coverage of insurgent attacks. I'm talking about the fact we don't get into the nitty-gritties of those attacks. We're getting into the nitty-gritty of these attacks in Haditha, assuming they happened, to a much greater degree on the part, not only of the entire Arab press community, but much of the European press. And you as an American General of some esteem don't find that insulting?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: What I find really worrisome about all of this is that we've been in this conflict three years, and we, we, we're losing our traction militarily. We're training the Iraqi forces, yeah but we don't seem to be able to get rid of the sectarian militias that are there. We've got a civil war raging right underneath the surface.
Neil Cavuto: Well, do you think if, if-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And-
Neil Cavuto: The President says it's just a matter of time before these guys are ready, that is the Iraqi police force, whatever you want to call them. Do you doubt that?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I hope that's true. I hope, I hope they will be, but it's not clear.
Neil Cavuto: If we pulled out now, if we pulled out now, as some in your part advocate, what would happen?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I'm not in favor of pulling out.
Neil Cavuto: I know you're not. I know you're not.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And so, you know, I think what we've got to do is, this is not about Iraq. It's about the region. But it also is not a problem that can solved-
Neil Cavuto: Congressman Murtha says-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Alright, well just a second here. Just a second.
Neil Cavuto: 'Get the heck out now.' No, just answer that question. I do want to get to that.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: No, but it's not about just military forces. It's about your overall package. It's about how you communicate in the region. It's about whether you have a strategy. It's connected to Iran. It's connected to Syria. It's connected our policies toward Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
Neil Cavuto: General, you're saying all the right things. I, I, I'm not quibbling with that.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I'm saying I know what works.
Neil Cavuto: But there are those in your party, led by Congressman Murtha, are saying, 'Stop all that nonsense. Just get out.' What do you think of that?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, you know, I've, I'm, I don't advocate a fixed timeline for withdrawal. I do think that this is a year where we should be turning this over to the Iraqis. We should be able to begin the redeployment.
Neil Cavuto: That's this year, this year.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Yeah. I do think we should be able to begin redeployment of US forces this year. And I think, you know, there's only so long that we can stay there when we're not getting traction.
Neil Cavuto: Let's say you won the Democratic nomination-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Mm hm.
Neil Cavuto: -in, in, in '08, in '04 - oh, thinking ahead right - and you were President right now.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Mm hm.
Neil Cavuto: Would the troop drawdown already have commenced under President Clark?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, we'd have had a different set of policies in the region. So, that's a lesser question. One of the problems we've had in dealing with this-
Neil Cavuto: Would, would you be withdrawing troops?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, well that's one of the problems we've had, Neil, is that whenever you put troops somewhere, it, it's the magnet that focuses everybody's attention on it. That's kind of what you're saying early on. We ought to be talking about, from a policy perspective, what is it we're trying to do in the region. What are our goals? What are our objectives? What are our interests?
Neil Cavuto: Okay.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And then what are the, what's the whole array of policies? The military's just one. We got to give our troops and our commanders over there the support they need in the way of solid regional policies. That's what this administration has not done.
Neil Cavuto: Alright. General Wesley Clark. Thank you for coming by.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: With you.
Neil Cavuto: Good seeing you.
