August 30, 2007
Transcription by Melange
Keith Olbermann: Let’s turn now to General Wesley Clark, analyst for MSNBC and before that of course, former Supreme Allied Commander for NATO. General Clark, great thanks for some of your time tonight.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good to be with you, Keith.
Keith Olbermann: In May when the President agreed to those benchmarks, he actually praised the benchmarks. He said, the quote was, “they were a clear roadmap to help the Iraqis secure their country and strengthen their young democracy.” Does that not make it difficult for the White House to argue now that this GAO report will not present a true picture of the situation in Iraq because the standards have been designed to lock in failure?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, exactly right Keith. I mean, they should not be able to squirm out from underneath these standards. The surge was portrayed to be a short-term effort starting in January – they’ve shifted the goalposts each time in an effort to prolong the surge, prolong the judgment and the truth is that the American people are making a judgment every day as they see the results of the war. The benchmarks confirm that judgment and this is a huge problem for the White House.
Keith Olbermann: Does there seem to be continuing in this a tried and true aspect of blaming of Congress uh, in this new strategy? A hey, it’s not our fault, Congress is being unfair by holding us to all or nothing standards – the GAO is doing the same thing. Is that not the gist here?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well that’s a great strategy. It’s worked many times in the past but the difficulty is that although the leadership is Democratic, there’s very strong Republican minority in the House. And in the Senate because of Joe Lieberman actually the Senate seldom can put the pressure on the administration that’s actually required to move the administration’s policies into the right direction.
Keith Olbermann: Should the President request another $50 billion for this war in Iraq? Does he still have the political capital to get it? There was such coverage of this in the last two days that suggested the Democrats were going to go along with this.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don’t think it’s a matter of whether or not the Democrats say no to this. I think it’s a question of what’s the price that the President should be made to pay for coming back in and asking for the other $50 billion. I’ve argued for a long time that the problems we’ve had in Iraq are problems of excessive focus on troops and tactics and not enough attention to the strategy and diplomacy - the policies, the politics of the region. And in essence, that’s what the GAO report confirms and hopefully the Congress can use the occasion of the $50 billion supplemental request to hammer the President and the administration again to come forward with a realistic strategy for success in the region. Stop hiding behind General Petraeus. Let’s hear this administration lay out a success strategy in the region.
Keith Olbermann: Speaking of the $50 billion. There is a report that comes from, of all people, Brit Hume from Fox News who, let’s face it, should be in a position to know, that the Defense Secretary Mr. Gates has now been so marginalized by the White House that he was not informed of that funding request – he read it in the paper. And add to that there is this report from the McClatchy newspapers that President Bush will get more than one recommendation from the Pentagon about Iraq. Does this now seem more likely that the military leadership can’t agree on what’s best for Iraq or…is it that or is it that the White House wants to ignore any voices with which it does not agree and so it is asking for several different reports and it’s going to pick the one it likes?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well I think it’s a little bit of both. I do think it’s an important thing for the field commander to stand on his own. I don’t think you have to have a unified report from the Joint Chiefs. I don’t think you can hold people in lock-step on this as a critical national issue. So, I think the American people are going to want to hear what General Petraeus says but remember, General Petraeus is not responsible for the strategy in the region. He’s not responsible for the diplomacy in the region. That’s the responsibility of the White House itself and they should be held accountable for this.
Keith Olbermann: And he may not even be largely responsible for a report which the administration continues to try to stick his name on. General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander in…Allied NATO Commander in Europe and MSNBC analyst. As always sir, great thanks for your time.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you Keith.