MEDIA ALERT: General Wesley Clark on Bill O'Reilly (FOX) tonight, Friday, 01/06/06 @ 7PM CST
Posted by Kat on January 6, 2006 - 3:04pm.
General Wesley Clark on Bill O'Reilly (FOX) tonight, Friday, 01/06/06 @ 7PM CST
He will be on tonight at the top of the show 7PM Central Time. The length of the interview is undetermined.
8:00PM EST | 7:00PM CST | 6:00PM MST | 5:00PM PST
All times of scheduled programs on Fox are subject to change.
In addition, Wesley Clark appeared on Fox News this morning, Friday 01/06/06, transcript as follows
General Wesley Clark on Fox News
January 6, 2006
Transcript by RegNYC
Jon Scott: We're talking with the former Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe, Fox News contributor, General Wesley Clark. General Clark, good morning.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Good morning, Jon.
Jon Scott: The Sunnis have been showing, or I should say the Shiites have been showing remarkable patience in the, in the face of all of these attacks. Is that about to end?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, the Shiites have been organizing under the surface. So, they've got some very strong militias. They're very much in control of the situation in Southern Iraq, and they have been taking over the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry.
You know, the troops back in November and December went into these ministries, into the jails. They found Sunnis who'd been tortured and abused and so forth. So yes, there's been some restraint, but the Shiites are pushing, and I think the risk of sectarian violence is rising in Iraq.
Jon Scott: Despite the fact of the new elections?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think what the elections showed was that when people are insecure, they vote for their own, and the elections sort of hardened the sectarian divisions in Iraq. It remains to be seen whether Zalmay Khalilzad's going to be able to bring those politicians back together. You know, first a government has to be formed, then a constitution has to be changed - and there's a window to do this in - but if the Constitution isn't changed, the Sunni participation's not going to amount to enough to delegitimize the insurgency.
Jon Scott: The optimistic projection that, that violence is going to decrease in this year ahead, that doesn't seem to be supported by at least what we've seen in the last couple of days. I mean, this week has been a terribly bloody one. Why?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's been a tough week, because the insurgency's still there, because there are those who are disaffected, because there are many Iraqis who don't want the country to fall under Shiite domination as they see it happening. But I also understand why Pete Pace is saying what he is, because there is training going on for the Iraqi forces. As they become more numerous, more effective, as they're deployed out there, it's going to be more difficult for foreign fighters to infiltrate in, and it's going to be more difficult as the police are trained for the insurgents to get a grip in the cities.
The trouble with this is that the sectarian split is inside the Armed Forces and police. Right now both those institutions are heavily dominated by Shiites, and so unless, unless they're effective at bringing Sunnis in and working to erode the sectarian differences in there, they won't pull the country together. They'll just repress the insurgency.
It'll come out another way.
Jon Scott: President Bush held that rather remarkable meeting at the White House yesterday with some former Secretaries of Defense and State, many of whom have disagreed with his policies on Iraq. You have disagreed with his policies on Iraq.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I have.
Jon Scott: If you had been at that meeting, what would you have told the President?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think the issue is how to make the best out of Iraq right now. I would have told him that you've got to have a regional strategy. You've got to bring these other countries in to the problem so they can be part of the solution. Syria, got to have a dialog with Syria. You've got to talk to Iran. Look, I was on, (laughs) I was on this channel twice over the weekend talking about the possibility of strikes against Iran on their nuclear program. Why don't we talk to the Iranian government. Surely, there's a better solution than the United States striking. We can dominate the skies over Iran. We can take out any of their facilities. We can control portions of their ground. We can send Special Forces in. So, they need to talk to us, but we need to take the initiative.
Jon Scott: General Wesley Clark, it's good to talk to you. Thank you.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you Jon.
Videoclip available at:
http://www.securingamerica.com/