General Wesley Clark on Your World with Neil Cavuto
October 19, 2006
transcript by Reg NYC

Neil Cavuto: Well, will North Korea defy China and set off a second nuke regardless? My next guest says yes and that the risk of war is actually growing. With us now is General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. So General, you think things are going to get worse.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think they could get worse, Neil. I- the North Korean government is in a box, and they don't bluff very well. They don't bargain. They don't compromise. They just push straight ahead, and they think the only thing they've got to do is respond with more pressure when pressure's put on them. So, do they want to defy China? No, they don't want to, but if they had to, they, they could and they might. What I'm concerned about is that we don't want to take this government out of, we don't want to let it run out of options, because they still have a military option against South Korea. Do they want to use that? No, because they know that's the end of their regime. But would they use it if the end of their regime was imminent and inevitable? They might, and we don't want to have to find that out. So, somehow we've got to work and push and pull and, and then we got to do a little rope-a-dope with them. We've got to find a way that his comes out with a soft landing for the people of North Korea.

Neil Cavuto: Well, well, well what about China's-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because this government could implode.

Neil Cavuto: Right. What about China's rumored thought of just toppling the government, arranging a coup?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, as long as there's someone who can pick up the pieces, that's fine. China would be the last government that would want a mess in North Korea, because those people are coming to China. And there's 24 million people there. 2 to 3 million people marching into China this time of year would be a humanitarian disaster. It'd be an economic blow against China. It would certainly divert them-

Neil Cavuto: Why would it be disas-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -from what they want to do.

Neil Cavuto: I, I've heard that, General, but you know, what is it, 1.3, 1.4 billion people. Maybe we've overstated the economic disaster it would be for China.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: No, I don't think so. I think that there's no country that has the capacity to house an extra 2 or 3 million people in the middle of winter and feed them and give them- I mean, it, it, you're going to lose people that way, and China's probably less flexible in that respect than many other countries. So, I think it'd be very difficult for China. China does not want to see North Korea implode. They don't want a war. They don't (chuckles) want American troops in North Korea trying to take care of the consequences of the implosion of the North Korean government. So, they've got a lot riding on this, and that's why they've been reluctant to put the kind of coercive pressure on North Korea early that the United States has called for.

Neil Cavuto: What do you make of the fact that the options tend to be few. In the Clinton years, you know, the thought was all for economic incentives and encourage talks to disarm essentially, and they lied through that, and they could be lying through this. So, how do you deal with a, a country and a government that lies to the degree that this one apparently does?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, they're always going to lie. I mean, that's the nature of this government. You've got to talk. You've got to push. You've got to pull. You got to come at them from multiple directions. You've got to continue to ensnare them in the realities of the modern world, and eventually North Korea could be handled the same way East Germany was handled. But it, we didn't isolate and pressure and coerce and threaten East Germany. Had we treated Eastern Europe that way, the outcome might have been different. So, we've got to look at all our alternatives in dealing with North Korea. We don't like what they're doing, and it certainly makes America mad that our wishes are being defied by North Korea, but there are alternatives. We have to have- we have to be able to find those alternatives.

Neil Cavuto: Real quickly, market hit a new high today. Is that good news for Republicans or Democrats?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: (laughs) I think it's, I think it's good news for Americans. I think everybody wants the stock market to do well. I don't think it's very-

Neil Cavuto: So, do you think it's indicative of a good economy or no?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I don't know. I, you know, the stock market's fine, but I think what most of the people out there feel that is that people who've got the money they're in stocks. If you've got a lot of money, then that helps them. Most Americans, 55% of Americans have stocks, but most of them don't have enough to make that much of a difference. So, the market going up like this, they're not going to retire, and they're not going to buy a home in Florida off the thousand point gain in the Dow over the last year. But, you know, it, it's a sense of well-being. I think that's great for Americans. I think, you know, from the Democratic side they, people would like other things like a hike in the minimum wage.

Neil Cavuto: I'd be remiss, General, if I didn't pass along this report that says George Soros, through a 527, gave 75,000 dollars to you. He wants to see you elected President, apparently. What do you make of it?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I don't think that's what this is about. I am going around the country, as you probably know. I'm campaign for a lot of Democrats. I've been in, I don't know, 15 or 20 states. A lot of them are veterans, some of them friends of mine from the military who are running for Congress:-

Neil Cavuto: Yeah.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -Joe Sestak in Philadelphia, Naval Academy graduate; Mike Weaver, retired Colonel in Kentucky. They're doing a great job, and I think they'll be tremendous members of Congress. And I can't do that.

Neil Cavuto: Okay.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I'm not in elected office. I'm not independently wealthy. So, I've had a lot of people help me do this.

Neil Cavuto: Okay.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think it's going to help change America for the better.

Neil Cavuto: Alright. General, thank you very much. Always good seeing you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.
Neil Cauvto: General Wesley Clark.