December 18, 2005
Transcription by Melange
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Rebecca Gomez: Just walking away from Iraq would be a tragic mistake, that’s according to former Secretary of State Colin Powell in an interview with British media. Powell says it will be years before the US troops come home although he did say a gradual reduction will likely start as early as next year. Here to talk about the role US troops will have in the new democratic Iraq, Fox News analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, General Wesley Clark. Good to see you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Nice to see you, Rebecca.

Rebecca Gomez: Now, let me ask you, do you agree with General Powell’s comments on, for example, American troops being in Iraq for many many years to come but that a gradual reduction could occur very soon?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Yes, I think that’s a sensible way of looking at what’s going to happen. I think the real issue here is there’s a window of about 4 months in which the Iraqis have to change the constitution. They’ve got to include the Sunni’s concerns in that constitution. We have the military leverage in Iraq because of our troop presence and our training. The question is: can we use that military leverage to effect the political change we’re looking for in the Iraqi constitution? If the Iraqis persist with the constitution as it’s now written, it’s going to perpetuate civil conflict.

Rebecca Gomez: Well, we have the success of Thursday’s elections; 70% voter turnout, Iraq - not very much violence surrounding the elections… Does that give us some hope, you think, General Clark, that US troops can have a smaller presence in the country in the very near future?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well that election turnout give us the hope that there will be Sunni representatives in the parliament who will demand that the Sunnis have a constitution that reflects their interests. If that constitution reflects their interests, then that will take some of the steam out of the insurgency. But if that constitution is not changed, we’re not going to find the insurgency losing support in the Sunnis, and that means we’re going to continue to fight. So then it’s just a question of grinding it out, trying to turn it over to an Iraqi army that’s mostly Shi’a and Kurdish and risking the fact that when it’s all said and when we finally bring our troops home that Iran will be the big winner. So a lot’s riding on changing that constitution over the next four months.

Rebecca Gomez: Right, I gather from your comments that you think that is the key, that’s what they need to do now, be more inclusive with the Sunni population?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Exactly, exactly. That’s the key to bringing the country together so it’s… The question for the military over there is, our military, is how do we use our military leverage to get the political results in the form of an altered constitution in Iraq.

Rebecca Gomez: Now the Secretary of State, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that it would be a mistake to withdraw American troops from Iraq immediately, prematurely, right away as a lot of people have been calling for vehemently recently.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Yes, I don’t think that we want a timeline for withdrawal. I think that what we’ve got to do is use this window of opportunity to transform the military presence into political change in terms of the change in the constitution, including the Sunnis. That’s the overriding issue right now. Can we do this?

Rebecca Gomez: Right. What do you want to hear from the President tonight? We have this prime time major speech on Iraqi policy. What do you think he needs to say?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think he’s got to be very clear to the Iraqis that they’ve got to change the constitution and he’s got to be clear to the American people that he understands that there’s a strategy. It’s not just a matter of killing these opponents in Iraq. We’re never going to kill enough opponents to declare the war won over there. As the generals have said, it can only be won politically. So I think the president has to make that clear. I think he should also explain to the American people why he didn’t follow the procedures in the law to safeguard our liberties when he authorized the spying. What was the urgency of doing this?

Rebecca Gomez: Ah, okay, so you disagree with that. General Wesley Clark, thank you very much for your time today.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.