General Wesley Clark on Fox and Friends
September 18, 2007
transcript by Reg NYC
Brian Kilmeade: He's already put his support behind Senator Hillary Clinton for President and strongly disagrees with the war in Iraq. So, what does he think about MoveOn.org and their assault on his fellow Generals? Joining us right now in studio with his brand new book called - you're seeing it there, his head shot's on the cover - A Time To Lead: For Duty, Honor And Country, General Wesley Clark. Welcome back-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you
Brian Kilmeade: -to Fox And Friends.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you very much.
Brian Kilmeade: First off, that MoveOn.org ad, when they call out the character of a, a General, that must bother you on some level.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, it's a big mistake. I mean, first of all, Petraeus doesn't deserve it, but partisanship in America is out there. It's rampant. I suffered from it when I was in uniform to some extent. And so, I don't approve of that, and if they'd asked me, I would've told them 'Absolutely not.' But the worst part about it is it distracted us from being able to look at the real issue. The question is: What's the strategy in Iraq?
Now, we know we've got troops on the ground, and we know that they're attacking people and they're arresting people and so forth. But the whole idea was to connect this to the political agreements, and we're no closer on the political agreements. The truth is you can't fix Iraq unless you deal with Iran. And the Iran situation requires real dialog. It requires real diplomatic risk-taking, because we don't agree with these people. And yet-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -if we don't talk with them, we're going to be left with nothing but-
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -either accepting a nuclear weapon or bombing.
Brian Kilmeade: I want to talk about- Yeah, and I do want to talk about Iran. But when you were, when you were running things over at NATO, when you were a General, were you ever called out by a U.S. Senator and used terms like "suspension of disbelief" to agree with you?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't remember that specific term, but when I was testifying during the Kosova campaign and when I had press releases, when I visited, when Congressional delegations visited me and so forth, there was a lot of skepticism about what we were doing in Kosova. And you may remember that Tom Delay led the House to vote against the support of American pilots during the time we were actually flying combat missions over Belgrade.
Brian Kilmeade: Did President Bill Clinton dismiss you when, when you were Supreme Allied Commander of NATO?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I was given, after the war was successfully concluded and all the agreements had been done, then I received a telephone call. And, and they, from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said that I was going to retire a little early.
Brian Kilmeade: So, did that bother you that, that Bill Clinton could've stopped it, and that now you're endorsing Senator Hillary Clinton. So, I guess you're over it?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that it was actually a sort of a, a power play inside the Pentagon. I talked to President Clinton about it at the time, and it, it's worked out great. (laughs)
Brian Kilmeade: Right.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I'm very happy. I won a war, and I was recognized for all kinds of service by the governments in Europe and by the American people. I'm very happy with my military career.
Brian Kilmeade: Real, real quick, because I know we've just had three round of talks with Iran. Things have gotten worse. Why do you think a fourth round would help?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because we'd do it at a different level on different subject matter. Look, the Iranians have an interest in Iraq. They were attacked by Iraq, and they're going to do everything they can to control Iraq. Just telling them, 'Stop sending that stuff in there,' that, that, that's not enough for a dialog. I'm talking about a big dialog, a regional dialog, continuous conversations and a full-fledged diplomatic mission to start working the Iranians.
Brian Kilmeade: It's all in A Time To Lead. General Wesley Clark endorsing Senator Hillary Clinton for President. Thanks so much for joining us.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.
Brian Kilmeade: Alright. Nice seeing you.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good to be with you.
