General Wesley Clark on Fox Big News Weekend
February 17, 2007
Transcription by Melange
Julie Banderas: Until recently, terror groups usually posted their violent videos and anti-American tirades on specialty internet forums but now more and more are turning to mainstream websites like You Tube, creating a new field of battle for hearts and minds in the War on Terror. Joining me now Fox News analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark. General Clark, thank you so much for talking to us.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good to be with you, Julie.
Julie Banderas: You know, this is very scary ‘cause we talk about these specialized websites back in the day, you had to know where they were to find them. Now millions of visitors around the world who have internet can watch US troops becoming victims of sniper attacks. So, is the US military above using propaganda the same way the terrorists are?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, what we’d like to do…what the US military would like to do is explain what’s really happening over there so um, we’ve got many different programs to put this information out. Whether we’re as effective in creating the kind of sensationalism that the terrorists have created or not remains to be determined. But the key is really, who’s the audience? So if you look at some of these websites that have gone up, the one with the…showing the sniper killing the American troop. As I understand it about 30,000 people had viewed that and it’s been up for about 2 months. That’s unfortunate that it’s up. It’s not a large number of hits on it. What we have to do is get our people put up the good things that are happening in Iraq and let people see it. Put it up in Arabic. Put it up in a way that relates to the young people around the world who follow these kinds of sites.
Julie Banderas: And that sounds like a great idea, then why aren’t we doing it?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think we are doing some of it but ah, you always have the problem here of a…of an image of David versus Goliath and so much of what the United States does is cover on the mainstream media that the people who are going to You Tube are people who don’t have access to mainstream media. We do. So there’s a little bit of a David and Goliath image here. But you’ve got to get the right people. You’ve got to reach the audience, you’ve got to have people from that age group who are part of the social network that can put it in terms that will resonate in that audience. That’s not easy to do.
Julie Banderas: Some people might not remember in World War I, propaganda was used a lot. It was popular, it made us hate the enemy. Governments even encouraged it but this war is different. How is it hurting us in Iraq?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well what we need to succeed over there is we need to win the support of the local people and to win the war on terror, we need to win the support of Islamic populations around the world so that they will discourage people from joining terrorist organizations. And, as long as these kinds of disturbing videos are out there, as long as they uh, provide glamour and glory to killing American soldiers or innocent civilians, then it undercuts our effort to win support among this critical young age group.
Julie Banderas: Alright, let’s talk about today’s resolution. Yesterday the House votes then today the Senate votes. Basically you know the Democrats are trying to express their discontent with the President’s war plan. Many Republicans are even crossing the aisle with them, but nonetheless, it almost seems that yesterday and today made no difference because it seems we’re nowhere further than we were a week ago.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I think that what you got is a sense of the Congress. Both houses of Congress - the United States House of Representatives and the Senate voted against the concept of the President’s surge. I think that’s very significant. That reflects the results of the election. That’s what the American people asked Congress to do. The election was a referendum on the war and the American people were unhappy, didn’t feel it was going well; Congress is reflecting their opinions so I think it’s significant.
Julie Banderas: Okay. And…and uh, Hillary today, among many other politicians had to kind of stop her schedule and go to DC to make this vote. Do you think it was all worth it, before I let you go?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it’s important that our elected representatives get on record for what they stand for. I think this question of Iraq is going to be with us for a long time, we’ve invested a lot of lives and treasure in this and we want to succeed but we want people to take a stand.
Julie Banderas: Alright. General Wesley Clark, always great to see you. Thank you so much.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you Julie.
