General Wesley Clark on Fox & Friends
May 2, 2007
transcript by Reg NYC
Steve Doocy: ...War funding plan out the window. Now, he's going to sit down later today with lawmakers to set them on the right path. Time to start some negotiating. General Wesley Clark joins us live to break down how the two sides can come to some sort of a compromise.
Brian.
Brian Kilmeade: He's in the Green Room. I just saw him. He was working his Blackberry.
Steve Doocy: Plus, the most private and dramatic thoughts with that. Plus Alison, Brian was just talking about how we've got the General in the Green Room.
Alison: Yes. He's clearly working his sources. He's on his Blackberry, and he's going to be talking about the Iraq funding fight, where we go from here. He has some suggestions for how to break the impasse.
Brian Kilmeade: And also we're going-
(cut)
Steve Doocy:Thank you very much for joining us on this Wednesday. Straight ahead, General Wesley Clark gives us his take on the Iraq funding bill veto and whether it matters if we've killed the leader of Iraq- Al Qaeda in Iraq, which we may have according to yesterday's news.
Brian Kilmeade: It's a Capitol showdown we've been talking about for weeks, actually months. Democratic leaders signed the Iraqi spending bill only to have the President veto it hours later. We predicted all this. Where do we go from here? What does it mean for the guys and for the women on the ground? Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark is in studio. General, what does it mean in terms of funding for the, for the men and women on the ground? If you're General Caldwell, do you start feeling it in your checkbook?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It depends on how skillfully the Army redeploys it's money. It's got a certain amount of reprogramming authority. It's got certain funds in other accounts, and it's probably putting money in there right now. So yes, there's going to be a pinch that comes, and certain programs that are lower priority may lose their funding and they may be strung out and so forth.
Brian Kilmeade: So, that, that-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: But-
Brian Kilmeade: (inaudible)
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's not-
Brian Kilmeade:Yeah.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -clear how much how much impact there is at this point. Any, any change in funding is a problem. Somebody's working it. But can you keep the essential- can you keep the lights on and do the essential stuff? Probably for a few more months.
Brian Kilmeade: When we hear Senator Reid say, "In this proposal, I'm totally for it. We have- begin redeploying in six months. Let's get out of there in twelve months," whatever the timeframe is, do you say, 'That's how General Wesley Clark would do it.'
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: What I would've done is put a real strategy in place, and I've said from the beginning four years ago, that you have to have a diplomatic strategy, a political strategy and a military strategy. And you have to be able to talk to Iraq's neighbors. The administration has basically played this as a war. It, it's emphasized the military component, and we're still fighting about troops and tactics when what we really ought to be fighting about is strategy and policies. Now Brian, the American people voted in November, and basically the way I interpreted the vote was, 'We don't want to lose in Iraq, but we don't have any confidence in the President's strategy.'
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: 'We're not going the right way.'
Brian Kilmeade: Don't you think it's oversimplification to say win or lose in Iraq? Because the war after the invasion was past the stratego win or loss in Iraq. You want to stand, as General Petraeus said, you want to buy this current government and the Army enough time to take over their country, to stand up and, and control the chaos.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, winning in Iraq isn't what the President said it was four years ago. You're not going to have a Western-style democracy in Iraq, but you might be able to create-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -a stable government that stops the killing and that controls it's own territory.
Brian Kilmeade: And how to best, how to best do that.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: That's the success.
Brian Kilmeade: How to best do that right now if you-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: You've got to talk to Iraq's neighbors.
Brian Kilmeade: Right, which they're doing in two weeks or this Thursday-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I would put a strong- I'd put a big diplomatic push on this. I'd put a shuttle team out in the region. I go to-
Brian Kilmeade: Okay.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -Iraq- I, I, I'd have long dialogs with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and try to build a-
Brian Kilmeade: Okay.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: A, a, a set of interests, of principles that you can work with. You know what's really going on behind the scenes. There's a lot of-
Brian Kilmeade: But I mean, that's diplomacy. What about in the ground with the, with the men and women?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's all connected, and on the ground with the men and women, they need more political support from the U.S. mission, from civilian advisors working with the civilian Iraqi government-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -to try to pull a government together. This is what this is all about.
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: The strategy of putting troops on the ground in Baghdad, that's a means. That, that's a tactic. The question is-
Brian Kilmeade: That has to be coupled with a-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: What does it lead to?
Brian Kilmeade: And, and-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And this is what the American people want to see.
Brian Kilmeade: And I'm sure you do agree that if we leave, the war's not over. The fight is going to continue.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I'm very worried-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -about what would happen if we just pull the plug on it.
Brian Kilmeade: There you go, and I want to pick that up when we get back, also talk to you about Al Masri, if is he indeed dead, and everyone hopes he is dead.
(break)
Brian Kilmeade: We're talking about where we go from here in Iraq on Capitol Hill and also on the ground. General Wesley Clark our guest, former Allied Supreme Commander. Now, you want to make two points regarding where we go from here, because forget pol- forget how we got here. Let's talk about where we go from here.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Alright. Well, first of all, politically where we go is the Congress put a proposal up. The President vetoed it. It's the President's obligation, directly or through his supporters-
Brian Kilmead: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -in Congress, to come back with the compromises. Secondly, any kind of benchmarks that don't have consequences attached to them if the benchmarks aren't met are not acceptable. The American people voted for a change in strategy.
Brian Kilmeade: But there was no, there was no referendum that says, 'Check this box Pro-Iraq. Check this box Against Iraq.'
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: No, but that was the issue that dominated the election, and you saw it. I, I was in 86 different electoral districts.
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I saw it played out again and again and again. It was about Iraq. Now, the thing about it is, Brian, this war and Petraeus will be the first one to tell you as would Casey or Abizaid, you cannot win it militarily.
Brian Kilmeade: Well, you must be so frustrated for-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: The military is a part of it.
Brian Kilmeade: Right, but General Petraeus, you must feel so frustrated for him. He has his strategy ready to go, and now your cutting off the funding. He says, 'I'll come back in September,' but then you have a situation where they're saying, 'No, no. By September, the fazed withdrawal will start.'
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, Petraeus is a great officer, and of course I'm frustrated for everybody that's over there. They need a full diplomatic and political strategy to support-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -the military effort, and the President needs to come to the Congress and together they need to work on the new strategy. The Iraq Study Group document provided a-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -good, bipartisan basis, but the President hasn't complied with it.
Brian Kilmead: All of it.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Why doesn't he talk to Iran-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -and Syria in a, in a cohesive, comprehensive way?
Brian Kilmeade: Right. Well, they going- starting tomorrow, within 24 hours. General Wesley Clark, always good to see you.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thanks, Brian.
Brian Kilmeade: Thank you very much.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good to be with you.
