General Wesley Clark on The O'Reilly Factor

John Kasich: Joining us now from Little Rock, Arkansas, Fox News military analyst, General Wesley Clark.

General Clark, why would Jack Murtha have said something like this, 'I wouldn't signed up,' 'I wouldn't join,' 'Things are terrible,' ? It's got to be discouraging to families. It's got to be tough for those who are out to recruit. Why would he have said something like this?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I can't go into what John Murtha's motivations are. John, you Jack Murtha. You know he's a good guy. You know he's a patriot. You know he's a public servant, and you could guess his motivations, probably better than I could.

But I will tell you this, that ultimately I think what's really amazing, through all of the last four years, has been the incredible esteem in which the men and women in uniform are held by the American public. They're bought meals, given first class seats, applauded in airports, and patted on the back as they walk through train stations.

It's just overwhelming, and it's a wonderful testimony to the quality of the men and women in uniform and what they're doing. And I know Jack Murtha believes in a volunteer force just like all of us do, and we're really proud of the men and women in uniform.

John Kasich: But you wouldn't have ever said anything like that, would you?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: (laughs) No. I've been telling people they should join, because I think, I think a tour in the-

John Kasich: Yeah, I ... GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: United States Armed Forces is the right way to start. Whether you're a man or a woman, whether you're an officer or enlisted soldier, it doesn't matter.

John Kasich: You know, I just wonder, General....

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Great way to begin.

John Kasich: Look, you know, you were on the campaign trail. You know how tough it is. You make misstatements or whatever. I'm wondering if John Murtha did one too many interviews here and sort of ratcheted up and got himself in trouble, but then you had General Pace sort of pounding him and saying, 'Hey, this, this, hurts us.' Your reaction to that?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that's a kind of inside-the-beltway tiff, really. Because I know Pete is a great, he's a great guy, and I've worked with Pete for a long time. And he wants to stand up for the men and women in uniform and obviously for the recruiting mission too, and so do all of us want to do that. But I think this is the kind of thing that, you know, it's just ...

Let's be grateful for the tremendous support that the American people have shown. There are a lot of people who disagree with the President's policy on the war. Jack Murtha's come out very strongly against it. I'm against the policy that took us into a war. I didn't think we had to fight that war.

Now there's some disagreements on what to do next, but I think America wants to see us succeed, and it's a question of how can we best succeed.

John Kasich: You know, I guess the thing that, that - and I've known Jack for a long time, and what is amazing to me is that to sort of make those bl- those blunt, bold statements- it's one thing to be against the war. It's another thing now to be telling young people, 'don't go in.' And you know it seems to me as though Pace, you know, by pounding him, put a stake in the ground, and he's basically saying, 'we're not going to put up with that.' And I think it's entirely appropriate for the, for, for General pace to have done that and sort of clear the air. I mean, we just can't let these things float on by.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well first of all, I don't think that really, with all due respect to Congressman Murtha, I don't think that his statement's going to have a whole lot of impact on whether people re-enlist or enlist.

What does have an impact is, for example, I'm down in Arkansas, and you know we lost about 20 of our folks in Arkansas in the National Guard who were killed in Iraq. And when people go to funerals, and the parents come back and look at it and think about it real hard, when their family member are there or considering joining up.

And so really it's more about how the Armed Forces is used than it is about what people say about it. And so in that respect, I think everybody in the Executive Branch and the leadership, they bear a huge responsibility for our young people, not only in terms of, yes they're legally responsible, but whether that volunteer force survives or not, that's partly a function of the President and what he does with that force.

John Kasich: Now it looks as though the President's reaching out to people. You know very well about the meeting yesterday with the former Secretaries of State and Defense. President's more aggressive in terms of explaining the goals. It seems to be having an effect. Americans seem to be, you know, more- moving more towards the president. Is that your read on it?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Tough to call. I, I think what it is is a lot of people got distracted by Christmas. I think that this latest wave of attacks and bombings in iraq represents a setback in terms of the administration's effort to win over public opinion. I can't comment on the meeting yesterday. I wasn't there. It doesn't sound like it went for very long. But I do support the idea that the President should be trying to develop a bipartisan policy.

John Kasich: Right.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: That's what he should have been doing all along, because when the country's in crisis it should not be exploited for partisan purposes.

John Kasich: Alright....

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It should be bipartisan.<

John Kasich: General, look you were a big advocate of Bosnia. You and I, in fact, argued about it. We argued on the plane with the President over to Bosnia and back, there and back and while we were there we fought about it.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We did argue, but I was trying to explain it to you, John.

John Kasich: But wait a minute. Here's the point. Here's the point. We were there- we've been there now for ten years, okay. Just recently pulling our people out. Are we expecting things too quickly to develop in Iraq? I mean after all, they've had a couple of elections. It looks like some of the radicals, some of the insurgents, at least the political parties may be having conversations. Could this turn out to be a very positive result?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I don't think it's over in Iraq. I don't think it's too late to salvage something out of Iraq. I do think there's a window of opportunity now with the elections past. If Zalmay Khalizad can pull together a government that brings the Sunnis in. If they can de-emphasize the sectarianism ...

John Kasich: Yep.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: .... that's gone into the Armed Forces and the security zone....

John Kasich: Yep.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: ....if they can change that constitution and make the Sunnis feel enfranchised ....

John Kasich: Be part of it. You know, General, they need

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: You know, the window, the window's not indefinite.

John Kasich: I gotcha. You know, we got a good ambassador. What we need is a George Washington in Iraq, and maybe we can pull it all together. Thanks, General, for being with us.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you, John.