General Wesley Clark on the Ed Schultz Show

January 13, 2009
transcript by RegNYC

Ed Schultz: Thank you for being right here on The Ed Schultz Show. Daily listeners, love all of you. 1-877-934-6833. On the Hill right now, Senator Clinton is taking questions about whether she's ready to rock-n-roll as the Secretary of State in the Obama administration. She is vowing to renew U.S. leadership through a smart power mix of diplomacy and defense. For a professional take on this, General Wesley Clark, friend of mine and the program, right here on The Ed Schultz Show. General, great to have you back with us.

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

Ed Schultz: Happy New Year. It's a little late, but here we go. (chuckles)

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Same to you. Stay warm up there.

Ed Schultz: You bet. L-let's talk about Senator Clinton. Is this a good choice, and from what you know of interaction between Secretary of State and the military, is, is, is this, is this a good move by President-Elect Obama?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it's absolutely an inspired choice. I think that she's going to be a great Secretary of State. She has the respect of the military. She has an enormous command of the subject matter, personal relationships, knowledge of programs, understanding of how the government works, the ability to, to bring together Congress and the Executive Branch. Ed, she's going to be phenomenal.

Ed Schultz: Closing down Gitmo - this is what President-Elect Obama has said he's going to do. In fact, it, it may come quickly after he is seated into the Oval Office - your thoughts on that, and, and what do we do with the detainees? What would be the next step after that?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, first of all, I'm very pleased that he's announced it. This is a huge signal to the rest of the world that we have a new administration and a new approach to foreign affairs and to U.S. national security. So, I very much welcome the expression of the intent. I think the mechanics of it are still to be fully worked out. Hopefully these people will be sorted out. Some are dangerous. Some should be prosecuted. Some should be processed and released back to their own countries. Some may need to be considered refugees in other countries. We just don't know how this all shakes out. There are always reports of odd cases coming out of there, people that shouldn't've been in there and so forth, but there are also some people in there who are very, very dangerous and would be dangerous of they were released again.

Ed Schultz: How do you think the rest of the world views this move?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think they view it as- they will- they, they view it as enormously positive.

Ed Schultz: To release these, these folks?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: To close Guantanamo.

Ed Schultz: Sure.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And then, it's a matter of how the disposition's handled. I-I always said when, when I was making this case three or- over the last three or four years is that you would close it. You would- first you would turn it over to NATO, and then you would ask these other countries to establish a tribunal and you'd sort them through an international tribunal. That may or not be what's done. There are different ways of going at it. But you can construct feasible alternatives to what's happening down there right now, and that's the important point. Barack Obama's going for it.

Ed Schultz: What's going to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's biggest challenge, welcome to the Middle East? I mean that (chuckles) the turmoil there is, seems to be at an all-time generational high.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think the biggest challenges you always have are trying to move in a strategic direction and at the same time deal with all of the immediate crises that keep hitting you. And so, there some important things that need to change strategically for the United States, how we work in the rest of the world, the issues with the rise of, of wealth and influence in Asia, how we relate that to international institutions - these are, these are continuing concerns. There are chronic problems like the proliferation of nuclear materials that have to be worked, dealing with Russia, getting us to energy independence or toward energy independence certainly factoring in the national security considerations. But, you know, for every ten minutes she can spend on that, there'll be five more urgent phone calls from the Middle East, and that's the nature of the job. It's just, it's a, it's a series of trying to move the government and the country in a positive direction while also working through crisis after crisis.

Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark with us here on The Ed Schultz Show. General, what do you think the biggest national security threat is that we face right now?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I-I-I still believe that international terrorism is, is a major threat and if you were going to pick one single threat, that would be it. There are still people out there who want to hurt the United States. Now, and you say 'W-w-w-w- how- Okay, take that into more practical terms.' I think you have to have a strong Homeland Security. I think you have to pay attention to what's going on in Southwest Asia, particularly in Pakistan, and I think you have to create a winning strategy for Afghanistan. That involves a whole lot more than troops. And question is really: how is that all going to be put together? So, I would imagine there'll be a major initiative on the part of the administration to pull all of this together.

Ed Schultz: Do you agree with the administration putting more troops in Afghanistan? Is that a good move?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think as a near term measure, it's an essential move, because you can't accomplish anything of you get forced off the battlefield. BUT having said that, i-i- you can- you have to avoid losing, but you have to have a winning strategy.

Ed Schultz: General, isn't the challenge of the Obama administration to upgrade, retool, replenish, whatever the term may be, our military after all o-of our involvement in Iraq? And with all these budgetary constraints and all of the things that are taking place, this is going to be a very important four-year period for the military, is it not?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Every four-year period is very important. I think what the country's going to have to recognize is you have to look at the economy in a little bit different way. The economy is an engine, and you have to keep the pedal to the metal. And if - in this economy it's about 72% driven by consumer spending - if consumers can't spend and don't spend, then the economy lags, people are thrown out of jobs and production of various goods and services that could've been created simply isn't created. So, that's the theory that then government should make up the gap. If you look at it in this respect, the only time you really can restructure the economy is during a recession such as we're going through right now. So, what we have to be careful of is not to try to see this budget in strict accounting terms of saying 'Well, you know, this is just like a family. You can't continually run into debt.' No, it's not like a family. This is a great big economic engine, and if everybody is going to stay fully employed and fully engaged, you got to keep demand up there. And if consumer demand lags, that's the time government should step in with programs - programs in energy, programs in efficiency, programs in healthcare AND programs in national security.

Ed Schultz: General, what are your plans, your immediate plans if the Obama administration asks you to serve, will you do that?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, of course, but I'm highly involved in the alternative energy sector. I'm working with a lot of great people, including some right there in Minnesota, and, and we're doing everything we can to, to, to sort of make it come together where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. I mean, it's really exciting. We, we brought a wind turbine manufacturing company to Arkansas. It has the potential of creating 800 jobs provided we get the right incentive package out of the Congress. And that means that we have to open up the opportunities for ordinary Americans to invest in their energy future. Right now, too much of it is being controlled and driven by big corporations rather than simply ordinary Americans. So, we're looking to create a mechanism for that, and we're going to be working with some folks right up there in the great American Midwest to do that.

Ed Schultz: General, great to have you on the program. Always good to hear from you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you, Ed.

Ed Schultz: You bet.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Now, stay out of that wind.

Ed Schultz: I-I- that's the key, the wind. (laughs) By the way-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Bye, now.

Ed Schultz: -dry cold is still cold.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Roger that, b-bye.

Ed Schultz: General Wesley Clark with us here on The Ed Schultz Show.