Clark is pulling no punches. This is absolutely the best interview ever with Hannity. Hannity tries to counter-attack and Wes tears him to shreds!
General Wesley Clark on Hannity and Colmes
January 31, 2006
<snip>
Alan Colmes: One of the things he said, tonight he said “we're on the offensive in Iraq with a clear plan for victory” but I didn't hear…again, I didn't hear what the plan was.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: No, it's not. When you use phrases like offensive. You know, we're not going to go down, I hope we've gotten over the sort of kicking in the doors and roughing up the women that some people said that we did some of over there…
<Unidentified>: You think we did that?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I have heard some soldiers say that some of that was done and I think that's really disturbing.
Hannity: If you heard that and you don't have any evidence, should you be repeating something like that, General?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I have heard our soldiers say that so I've been told that by our soldiers.
Hannity: Without any proof, though, do you think you should be repeating that about our soldiers?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: When a guy tells me something like that…I didn't say that was our policies, but I know that some of that did happen. So, what I'm telling you is <crosstalk>
Hannity: It seems irresponsible, General.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's not irresponsible. What's irresponsible is to use big broad phrases like “offensive” when, in fact, what we need to be doing in Iraq is getting a political solution. All of our generals will tell you that and so will the politicians.
Hannity: We, we are. Nobody thought that we'd go from a dictatorship to, ah, the sovereignty that's emerging or to the constitution or to the elections with all those purple fingers or the masses of people that went out to vote the way that they did. Nobody thought that was possible but we're not going to win on Iraq.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: What I want to say one thing. You know, I love the men and women in uniform. I honor what they're doing in Iraq. But, it's not going to be won militarily…no matter what we do. It could be lost militarily.
Hannity: So we can't win this war? So you're like Howard Dean. You don't think we're going to win the war?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We have to win it politically. <crosstalk>
Hannity: I think we win it both ways.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: We have to talk the military power and use it to get political advantage in Iraq.
Hannity: So those elections didn't impress you.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, the elections gave us an opening but now what the elections showed is that the people who were Shia voted for the extremists and the people who are Sunnis voted for the Sunnis and…<crosstalk>
Hannity: General, I hear a lot of Howard Dean and John Kerry in you. Howard Dean said we can't win the war, in a lot of ways…<crosstalk>
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Let me just ask you this. Let me just ask you this. <crosstalk>
Hannity: No, no, let me just finish my question. You can't win it. And you're saying you have to win it politically, ah, John Kerry said that, you know, our troops were terrorizing women and children in the dark of night, now you're repeating that. <crosstalk> I'm surprised, I really am.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Sean, you know, first of all listen. I don't take guidance from…this is not political for me. I spent my lifetime in uniform. <crosstalk>
Hannity: I appreciate it.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I've studied these situations. I've talked to people all the time. I very carefully follow these events, so this is my judgment as a strategist. It has nothing to do with politics. <crosstalk>
Hannity: I would
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's not about ambition and it's not about partisanship.
Hannity: I understand that.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: But I'll tell you this. This country has to understand and respect others. <crosstalk> It cannot just go in and bulldoze countries. <crosstalk>
Hannity: If anybody would have told you that Saddam would be out of power, his sons would be dead, we would have had multiple elections, a constitution would be written, you have the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shia all seemingly beginning to come together in a way here and as Joe Lieberman pointed out it's really just a small fraction opposing this, I don't think anybody would have predicted it and you seem to take no good out of this at all and I'm shocked.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, actually you know, I predicted the invasion would be over in three weeks. I said we didn't have enough forces to really do the job afterwards. If you read my book I said I thought we'd handle this and we'd be out of here by now so I'm surprised at how poorly it's gone considering the overwhelming American preponderance of power but I think that our troops shouldn't be blamed for that. I think that our troops have done a great job. I think it comes to faulty policies.
Alan Colmes: We appreciate you being on the show tonight. Thank you sir.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you, Alan.
Alan Colmes: Good to see you once again. Thank you very much.
http://securingamerica.com/node/573