General Wesley Clark on WLS Chicago Talk Radio

October 12, 2007
transcript by Reg NYC

Roe Conn: In our last hour, we talk to Hollywood actress Eva Mendez.

Bill Leff: Mm hm

Roe Conn: One of the most beautiful and striking humans ever to draw breath, just as beautiful as General Wesley Clark, I got to say. The man is, the man is-

Bill Leff: Stunning.

Roe Conn: : -as stunning as, as they come as Generals. He's got a new book out.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I've never heard anybody say that about me but I'm sorry to, you know, lower the standard here in the studio.

Roe Conn: You have, you have definitely lowered the standard, but that's okay. You know what? We, we knew we couldn't keep it up. You know, these Hollywood actresses, they come and they go. They, they don't stick around. Generals however are forever. I think George S. Patton said that. General, this is an interesting new book you've got, which kind of chronicles your life. You've written other books, but this one's kind of more about you and then about you-

General Wesley Clark in Douglas County, Nevada

January 27, 2007
Transcription by Melange

Introduction (joined in progress): General Wesley Clark who was born in Chicago and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He distinguished himself early as an athlete and as a scholar, graduating first in his class from West Point. After that he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he earned a Master’s Degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. During 34 years of service in the United States Army, Wesley Clark rose to the rank of 4-star general as NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. It’s really impressive, isn’t it? In his final military command, General Clark commanded Operation Allied Force, NATO’s first major combat action, which saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo without the loss of a single American life and he’s responsible for peace-keeping in Bosnia.

After his retirement in 2000, he became an investment banker, author, commentator and businessman. In September 2003, he answered the call to stand as a Democratic candidate for the President of the United States where his campaign won the state of Oklahoma and launched him to national prominence before he returned to the private sector in February of 2004. He’s the author of the best-selling book Waging Modern War and more recently, Winning Modern War: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire. In the fall of 2006, General Clark was brought on as a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Affairs. He currently serves in leadership roles within a number of non-profit public service organizations – way too many to enumerate, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, um the Center for American Progress and the National Endowment for Democracy.

General Clark’s awards and honors are far too many to list, but they include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Distinguished Service awards from the US Army, the State Department and the Defense Department, the Silver star, the Bronze star, the Purple Heart and honorary knighthoods from the British and Dutch governments. We’re proud to have General Wesley Clark with us here tonight, a potential presidential candidate and you’re about to hear from him. Please join me in a warm welcome for General Clark.

Clark urges diplomacy, stresses China's future strength

November 28, 2006
By Abe Lubetkin | from The Brown Daily Herald

The United States should practice "golden rules of behavior" when mitigating world conflicts because its international preeminence is dwindling, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark told a crowded Salomon 101 Monday evening.

In a speech sponsored by the Brown Lecture Board, the former NATO commander, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, said the United States should set a precedent for conflict resolution by using military force "only as a last resort" and set an example of diplomacy by facilitating dialogue among Iran, Syria and Iraq to help resolve conflict in that region. He warned that China may soon trump America's superpower status.

Clark called China "the one country that has the scale and energy to challenge America's freedom of action in the world" and encouraged the United States to bolster its ties with allies by strengthening relations with Europe and supporting the United Nations.

"Imagine how you're going to feel in 2020 when there's still scuttling along the border of Mexico, and China says to the United States … 'Would it help you if we deploy a couple of Chinese aircraft carriers off the coast of, say, San Diego and Tijuana?'" Clark said. "What are the rules that we as a preeminent power ought to establish now so that 20 years from now we're not on the receiving end of Chinese exceptionalism?"

The retired general said U.S. foreign policy lost its sense of direction after the Cold War, when the United States could no longer focus its international strategy on curbing the Soviet Union's power.

Lamenting the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq with a plan that "passed for a strategy of prevention when it was no strategy at all," Clark encouraged the United States to include Iran and Syria in the Iraq rebuilding process, as Iraq "spirals deeper into civil war and failure."

"We don't have a success strategy or an exit strategy," he said.