"The Great Bogeyman for Democrats, because Democrats can't oppose Generals"

Ben Mankiewicz: We're talking to General Wesley Clark here on The Young Turks. General, let's talk politics and American politics and how it relates to Iraq. There was a story earlier this week. The House Majority Whip, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, he was saying that he was hearing that that Petraeus-Crocker report in September is likely to be more positive than initially thought, and he said that those 47 conservative Democrats in the House, the Blue Dog Caucus, he thought that the Petraeus report, a positive report in his words would carry significant weight with them and that there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course if the Republicans stay united, and that would be a big problem for us, and then followed that up by saying so we should just wait for the Petraeus report. That sounds like a strategy designed to lose that battle in September and once again be ineffective in attempting to get a reasonable timetable for withdrawing forces.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think we're fighting on the wrong playing field in the Democratic Party on this issue, and I've said this from the beginning. It was the Republican strategy, political strategy to direct the discussion to troops and tactics, to make Petraeus the point man and to make anyone who opposes Petraeus, it's like opposing, I don't know, the, the, the, the, the, the Good Witch of the West or something. I mean, you can't quite get your hands around it.

Ben Mankiewicz: Right.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It's this mystical character who somehow knows everything. And I mean, it's, it's the Great Bogeyman for Democrats, because Democrats can't oppose Generals. And so, it's the perfect weapon to use against the Blue Dogs. It's the wrong playing field. Look, Petraeus is a fine officer, and we've always needed more troops in Iraq. And when you put troops out on the street, they do have a positive impact. That's not the issue. The issue is: how does the presence of the troops connect to resolving the political problems in the region - conundrum number whatever it was, 4013.

Ben Mankiewicz:: (chuckles)

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: And the answer is that if you don't connect the troops presence to the right political strategy in Iraq and the right diplomatic strategy in the recent, region, you lose. The right line of argumentation for the Democrats is to go after the strategies and policies of the Bush administration.

Cenk Uygur: And so, you would say if you were leading the Democratic Caucus, 'Hey, ignore the Petraeus report. No matter what it says, it doesn't address the real issue here, which is that the Iraq politicians won't make a deal, and without that deal, our presence there, no matter how lovely, is irrelevant.'

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: It doesn't address the real issue in that if the, the administration won't talk seriously to Iran and Syria, we'll never move forward to addressing the problems in the region, including our mission in Iraq.

Cenk Uygur: General Clark-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: So, what I said in my Congressional testimony three weeks ago is two brigades out by Christmas, the administration gets 60 days to revise its strategy and policy, otherwise consequences will follow, and that revised strategy has to include dialog with Iran and Syria - serious dialog, not, not going in and accusing Iran of, of arming and giving improvised explosive device warheads to the, to the militias, but actual dialog about what are your aims and purposes in the region, what would you like to see, where do you see it in ten years, and going at a mul- on it, on it on multiple fronts.

Cenk Uygur: Gen-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: To crack through the facade of the hardline anti-Israeli rhetoric of Ahmadinejad, which doesn't have the support of the majority of the Iranian people.

Cenk Uygur: General Clark, I want to talk to you one last time on the Petreaus report though. Do you put much stock in it? For whatever it's worth in relevance or or not relevant, do you take a look at the Petraeus report and say this is a rough semblance of the truth or do you think that there is heavy pressure to spin that report favorably for the administration?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think there's both. Look, (clears throat) the presence of those troops is going to do some good, and it's inevitable that if you put great American soldiers out on the ground, they will intimidate the enemy. They will drive him away. They will in, if they've got the intelligence, take action and run them out. It's also inevitable that the enemy will duck away from these forces and hold it's strength elsewhere, try to wait them out, try to be strong where, where we're weak and so forth, and go after collaborators. That's also happening. So, I take the Petraeus report at face value. It's a military report in a situation where every military man has said the military's not the answer.

Full transcript at Securing America