General Wes Clark on Fox News Sunday 12/11/05
December 11, 2005
Transcription by Melange

Eric Shawn: With us now, General Wesley Clark who’s a Fox News Analyst and former Supreme Allied Commander. General, good morning, good to see you on Sunday morning.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good morning, Eric, good to be with you.

Eric Shawn: General, you had one of your, I guess, former colleagues General Casey was on just about an hour ago here on Fox News and he seemed to be optimistic but realistic, saying that the elections will go on, saying that the Sunnis will overwhelmingly show up. He’s says suicide attacks are down two-thirds so what does Howard Dean mean when he says that we’re not going to win?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I can’t explain Howard Dean but I have a tremendous confidence in George Casey, he’s a great officer, he’s a great commander, he’s doing a terrific job over there. I’ll tell you what my concern is, it’s the fact that we’ve had two elections before they’ve been successful, they haven’t ended the insurgency. They haven’t de-legitimized it and what I think we’re seeing in Iraq is a recognition on the part of the Sunnis really that the Iranians through the Shi’as are taking control and so what I’m hoping is that the administration will take stronger measures to end the sectarian divide in Iraq; to change the constitution, to try to make the Iraqi army reflect the population of Iraq rather than being a Shi’a and Kurdish army. If we don’t do that, we’re not going to undercut the insurgency.

Eric Shawn: Now the Sunni clerics are saying “go out and vote” and they expect an incredibly overwhelming number of Sunnis, after boycotting, to actually vote on Thursday. How do the Sunnis then translate that into a better participation and homogenization into the military as you say?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I think it really is up to the United States to use its continuing influence. We still have the trump hand in Iraq because the Iraqi Shi’as can’t ask us to leave until we’ve finished off the insurgency or until we finish training the troops. We’ve got to translate our military strength and capabilities in Iraq into political influence to open the door for Sunni participation and influence in that government.

Eric Shawn: Now, you talk about the insurgency, obviously it is still continuing and there ah, General Casey said there obviously will be more violence this week leading up to the election. You know, what about this new tape? We have al-Zawahri giving yet another tape calling for jihad against the west and also mentions Saudi Arabia. Is this the message, obviously, you know, we haven’t been able to get him or bin Laden yet?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I think Hamid Karzai and Afghanistan are in danger because there’s been some slip-sliding there in terms of security but I think the broader message of al-Zawahri is a message of weakness. He talks about defeat – he’s trying to rally his troops. This is a message not of strength but of weakness. I think that we are succeeding in putting the pressure on al Qaeda and the question now is can we handle the regional dynamics of the Persian Gulf? Can we bring the fighting to Iraq in a conclusion? To a conclusion in a way that not only gives the semblance of democracy through voting but remember, in Iran they have votes, what we want is real democracy that brings the country together not that hands it over to the Iranian-oriented clerics in Iraq.

Eric Shawn: You know you just posed the question. How would you answer your own question?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I think it’s really requires the administration to be very very nimble and quick in linking our military capabilities to the political outcomes we want right now. We’ve got a window of about four months after this election to try to get that constitution re-jiggered so that it cuts off the Iranian’s access and the Shi’as control over the oil in the south and denies Iran the opportunity to create a Shi’a-dominated buffer state in the south of Iraq. About a four month window. After that we’re going to leave because we’ve done our work there and the Shi’as will want us to leave because we’ve handed over to them what they’re most interested in. It won’t be a victory that we’re proud of ultimately unless we take advantage right now of our military capabilities.

Eric Shawn: Alright, General Wesley Clark, we thank you. You’ve just laid out the strategy and the challenge after this Thursday for the next four months. Thank you, sir. Live in Little Rock.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.