Defense spending

4/6/09: General Wesley Clark on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

General Wesley Clark on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

April 6, 2009
Transcript by Reg NYC

Wolf Blitzer: So, can the United States and its allies actually win the war in Afghanistan. Joining us now from Little Rock is the retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. A lot of the experts who know Afghanistan well, General Clark as you well know, say this is really not a winnable situation.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that's right, and I think- I do- I think they do say that. I think it's a very tough situation, but our objectives are we're principally there to go after Osama Bin Laden and the international terrorist movement that he has led and inspired. And the rest of it is what we can do, the most we can do to help the people of Afghanistan, and of course we want to help stabilize the situation on Pakistan, a nation 170 million armed with nuclear weapons. So, there's a three-part effort, but the winning part is breaking the back of the terrorist organization.

11/12/07 - General Wesley Clark on MSNBC News Live (3 segments)

General Wesley Clark on MSNBC News Live

November 12, 2007 1:45 PM
Transcript by Reg NYC

Kris: Congress is putting the finishing touches on this year's Defense Spending Bill. 8.7 billion dollars will be going to high tech missile defense systems. So, why spend so much cash on conventional weapons while fighting an unconventional war on terror? That's the question for MSNBC military analysts retired Four-Star General Wesley Clark and retired U.S. Army Colonel Jack Jacobs. General Clark let me start with you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Mm hm.

Kris: Why this renewed focus on these missile defense systems?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, it's not renewed. I mean, we've been focusing for a decade or more on high-altitude air defense, on intercepting missiles in flight. The question was: How high can you intercept them and how long a range missile can you intercept, because the longer range they are the faster they are? So, you have to have better technology. The technology's getting better, and the first systems are being deployed now, and there's discussion of a system of deployment in Europe. So, I think this is part of prudent defense planning. It's gone on for a long time, started in the Clinton administration. It's still moving forward.