General Wesley Clark on the Ed Schultz show
October 28, 2005 interview
transcription by Reg NYC

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Ed, thanks very much. It's great to be with you.

Ed Schultz: General, where are you right now?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Out in Venice, California visiting my son and daughter-in-law and two grandsons.

Ed Schultz: General, I want to thank you for your on-line petition, getting people to sign it up. So we can get the Ed Schultz show on Armed Forces Radio Network. I appreciate that very much.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, thank you and I think you've got to be on there.

Ed Schultz: General, How does this work? I mean, can you give us any insight on what the troops hear and how important it is for them to have both sides of the story? And of course, the Democrats are being vilified and lefties are being vilified in this country for not supporting the troops. Take us down that road a little bit. I want your insight on this.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think it's essential that we have a balance of opinion. I think the troops have to hear both sides of the argument. I think they have to hear people debate it back and forth. That's the American way. We have two sides. We have discussion and then people make up their own mind, but when you only get one side of the issues, you can't expect that to be a real democracy and you can't expect people to be well informed. And of course, there are some people who don't want the troops to be well informed.

Ed Schultz: General, what's your take right now on what has unfolded in Iraq with the Constitutional vote. What does it mean, if anything?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think it, it takes us one step further toward, towards civil war, unless the administration really gets on the ball in a way they haven't in the past. What needs to be done is the Iraqis, the Sunnis need to be helped right now by the Shia's and the Kurds immediately to be able to put together the kinds of changes in that constitution, put them forth, promise the Sunnis those changes are going to be adopted. So that there's that you can bring the Sunnis in out of the cold. You know, there was an overwhelming Sunni rejection of that constitution. Some people want to say to me, "It's a good thing the Sunnis voted," but I don't think it is.

Ed Schultz: General, you think that sets the table for a potential civil war?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that, you know, if you remember in this country, before we had a civil war a lot of people voted in 1860. It wasn't like there was no election before we had a civil war in this country.

Ed Schultz: Hmm.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: People do vote and then they fight. And if they don't get what they want at the ballot box and sometimes if the issues are severe enough, they might fight. So, I think the administration needs to look at it as we're at another critical juncture in Iraq.

Ed Schultz: General, from your professional experience, what would be the start of an endgame for the United States in Iraq? How do you see that?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Creating some kind of a diplomatic arrangement in the region where Iraq's neighbors were brought into the dialogue. Iraq's neighbors are part of the problem inside Iraq. They're pushing and shoving and aiding. The United States needs to work with Syria. It needs to dialogue with Iran, and until it can do that we will not be out of there successfully.

Ed Schultz: Do you think we can draw down troops in '06?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it's possible to draw down troops in '06 if the right conditions are met, but I think it's a,' it's a mistake to have a timeline for withdrawal that's not related to the events and conditions on the ground.

Ed Schultz: What about the intensity of the insurgency and how sophisticated their bombing tactics are coming and their ambushes, how sophisticated their ambushes are on our troops? How do we deal

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Sure, they're going to school on us and we're going to school on them. I mean, that's that's the way warfare is, and the longer it continues, the more sophisticated they'll get and, you know, the better our soldiers will get at finding them and detecting them. It's just the way it works.

Ed Schultz: General are we okay with recruiting right now in your professional opinion?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We're scraping by, but the Army'll hang together as long as the president has a strategy.

Ed Schultz: When you say 'scraping by' what do you mean?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, there's been a little bit of reduction of standards, but you know, we'll still have a great military.

Ed Schultz: Do you think it's right to pay the kind of bonuses we're paying, or is that a signal that we're bribing people into the military?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: No, you know, I always believe that people should serve voluntarily and I think every American has an obligation to serve his country, but I don't know that that's you know, I think the alternative is, if you want to contemplate it, is to have a lottery and draft people in, and I don't know if there's any support for that. I think if you try to propose a draft you'd certainly increase the voter turnout at the next election. But you can't have a draft

(overlapping)
Ed Schultz: Speaking of

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: You can't legitimately have a draft discussion in the middle of a war, not a war like this that was an unnecessary war that we were led into by hyped intelligence and and even conspiracy.

Ed Schultz: General, do you think, how big is today in America with the indictments coming down of the chief of staff of the Vice President of the United States apparently part of a ring inside the White House who were running the emotions and running the intelligence up to the war in Iraq? What's your insight on this?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think that this is one step along the way for the American people to find out what really happened, why we went to war unnecessarily. I think it was wrong. It was unnecessary. I think the people manipulated the intelligence, hyped it, as I said before. I've said it was a strategic blunder, and I think people should be held accountable. I wanted this administration thrown out. That's why I ran last year. The best way to have held them accountable would have been to vote them out of office, but the American people didn't understand it at the time. Maybe they will now.

Ed Schulz: General, do you think you'll be politically involved in '08? Are you thinking about running again?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I am certainly politically involved right now. I'm out helping Democrats all across the country. I want Mike Coleman to be the Governor of Ohio, and just think there's just a lot of great stuff we can do, and that's what I'm trying to do. The Democratic Party has to be a national party. It has to appeal to every section of this country, and every stratum of society, and it has to have a full-service outlook where it handles national security as well as education and healthcare. We can do that. We're the party to do it.

Ed Schultz: General, do you think that the Democratic Party has an image problem with the military?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think the military's really, I mean, they're very busy. They're not necessarily the best informed people in the world, but you know the impact of the anti-militarism that followed Vietnam and the idea that people don't like the military, don't know how to use it. It casts a long shadow on men and women in uniform, and it leaves people confused. That's why it's so important that your show be on Armed Forces Network.

Ed Schultz: I'm all for it. General, I appreciate your time. I know you're a busy man. Best of luck to you. We'll do it again and thank you for the on-line petition. I appreciate it.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Alright Ed. Great to be with you. Keep it up, okay?

Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark, one of our favorites here on the Ed Schultz Show.