Wes Clark: Iraq- Military and Diplomatic Solutions
August 3, 2007 | Chicago IL
Now, from the President's perspective, Iraq is just a war. And he's real happy General Petraeus is over there, because General Petraeus is a General, and George Bush always listens to Generals. (laughter) He's told you that. And when he gets-
When he gets tired of listening to them, he replaces them.
I know these guys. They're all my friends. Many of them have worked for me or worked with me and, and I admire them, and they're doing a terrific job. And I admire Dave Petraeus. He's a fine officer, but he's going to do his best to make the surge work. That's his duty, and I think you can see by the results that where you put American troops, they're competent, they're capable, they're well led, they're well motivated, they're fearless, they do their duty, and of course they do make a difference. If you're a terrorist or you're Al Qaeda in Iraq or you're the Madhi's Army and you come face to face with American troops, you're in trouble. You take a shot at them, they shoot back. You miss, American troops hit. Our soldiers, they hit what they shoot at. They're trained to do that, and they're good, and I'm proud of them.
But what we've got to do is create not an argument in the United States over the troops or their tactics, but raise the debate to the administration's strategies and policies in this region. Here's why. We can't succeed in Iraq with the numbers of troops, no matter how good they are, because you can't succeed in this war just by killing people or intimidating the opposition.
Dave Petraeus would be the first one to tell you that. The military's part of the solution. It's not the answer. The answer's the politics. The politics inside Iraq are not just people who are afraid. It's not just a group of people who say, 'Gee, if I just, if I could just let my kids go to school, I wouldn't have to join a militia.' Maybe there's some of that, but there's a lot more than that going on. This is a power struggle within religious factions. It's a power struggle between religious factions. And it's a geo-strategic struggle between different nations in the region. - All playing out on the ground in forms of violence, intimidation, blackmail, corruption, payoffs, influence, healthcare, coaching, counseling, there's no telling how many different intelligence agencies and means of action and influence from different nations are present in Iraq. It's a whole lot more then the number of nations participating in our coalition. I can promise you that. (Applause)
And so, we're not going to solve this problem unless we work it at the diplomatic level and that means we've got to stop isolating people we disagree with and start engaging those people.
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Wes Clark: President Bush, Stop Hiding Behind Your Generals. Defend Your Strategy!
But now, here's our problem. Okay? We- the administration doesn't want to talk about this. What they want to talk about is troops. They want to say they support our troops, and if we question the numbers of troops or their effectiveness, they want to say, 'You people don't support our troops. If you don't support our troops then you're not patriotic, and if you're not patriotic, then you don't have a voice.' I mean, that's what leaks out from everybody from Undersecretary Edelman and Vice President Cheney all the way down in every dialog.
.... But you're not going to change the policy by arguing about the troops strength. We've done it. We're on record. We want the troops home, but may I suggest that if we can raise the dialog, take it away from George Bush's safe ground of troops and people in uniform and 'How dare you question these Generals and these people in uniform that are so patriotic,' and say, 'No, we're not questioning the Generals. Mr. President, we are questioning you, you're administration, your leadership!'
I want you to say to President Bush, 'Mr. President, stop hiding behind Dave Petreaus and come out here and defend YOUR strategy! This is your war. You defend it.'
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Wes Clark: George Bush - a Rookie Pitcher
George Bush reminds me of a rookie pitcher who thinks he's got a no-hitter going in the 7th inning, and he's just trying to skate through so the loss can be given to the relief that's coming in. ...
But it's not about the military. It's about the political. And it's not only about the political in Iraq. It's about the political here at home, and that's what I want to talk a little about today.
In the last year I've traveled all over the world. I've been in Asia, in China. I've been in the Middle East three times - Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia twice. I've been in Turkey. I've been in Eastern Europe - Ukraine, Estonia. I've been in Scandinavia - Finland, Denmark. Been in Central Europe in Netherlands and in Italy three or four times. I've been in England a couple of times. Been in, in, in the Caribbean and in Panama twice.
Everywhere people love what America stands for. They respect Americans. They love us as people. They've read what we say we believe in. They just don't understand where we are.
...why is it that at every international foundation and forum, the official U.S. position is to block forward movement on issues of global warming, quarrel with the data, disagree with mandatory controls, push timelines back, argue, argue, argue, stall, stall, stall. Where is America?
...they ask me, they say, 'Well look, you know, the biggest cause of terrorism, the thing that we're most worried about is that you Americans haven't done your duty in trying to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
And oh, by the way, they get around to mentioning Iraq too. (laughter) Not one of them, not one, no statesman, no scholar, no businessman has come to me and said, 'What you Americans did in Iraq, you know, getting rid of Saddam Hussein, thank you very much. Come and do it to my country!'
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But what we can hope for still is a state that holds together, that doesn't break apart. And we can hope for a state that tries to work law and order issues with its own, within its own territory and doesn't become a breeding ground for future terrorist activities or for exporting violence in the region. And we can hope for a state that in some way will allow the wonderful, industrious, smart and capable people of Iraq to make their own way forward. And we can hope for a state in which thousands of Iraqis aren't dying every month.
Those are pretty modest, those are pretty modest objectives, and as we move toward those objectives, if we do it the right way, I think we can protect the larger U.S. interests in the region and we can withdraw our troops, but we can't do it without a change in the United States strategy of engagement in the region. We must engage people we don't agree with. We must take seriously our responsibilities to help bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
And, and we must do all this soon, because that war in Iraq is costing something like 100 billion dollars a year, and our children need healthcare and our country needs innovation and our roads need repair, and there's a long list of things we need to do for our country and the world that we can't do until we get out of Iraq. And if we are going to get out of Iraq. We got to get out the right way, because history doesn't stop when the last American troop heads down the road to Basra. We've still got our interests there. We need American leadership.
So, I'm looking to you, this community, you Kossacks.
Help put the intelligence in U.S foreign policy. Help put the intelligence in this debate. Help America get its priorities right. Help us recapture this vision of America, this great and noble country that protects human rights, that's generous, that welcomes strangers, that gives to the world its ideals, its ideas, its wealth, its technology, its selfless service. That's the America they're looking for. It's the America we're looking for, and it's the America that you can help us achieve.
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PRESIDENT JOSÉ MARÍA FIGUERES: General Clark, your leadership is widely recognized in many, many fields, and of course one in which you are an absolute expert is in the field of national security. What are the linkages between climate change and national security? And if we were to continue on the course on which we now are, what would be the unintended consequences in terms of a national security policy?
