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American Morning

Interview with General Wesley Clark

Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, will he or won't he run for president? Wesley Clark is not saying. There is speculation, of course, that the retired Army general will make his candidacy official next week. If he does run, he will be the 10th Democrat in the race.
Earlier this morning, I spoke with General Clark about the possibility that he'll enter the presidential fray.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: The basic issue is: What is the best way to make a contribution to the safety, security and the people of the United States? Is it to run for office? Is it to stand on the sidelines and offer comments? Is it to just go into private business and be a good citizen and help the local community?

O'BRIEN: When do you make a decision? How far away -- how long do we have to wait, I guess is the way to put that question?

CLARK: Sometime pretty soon I think I will make a decision.

O'BRIEN: A week? A couple of days?

CLARK: I think, you know, when you're looking at something like this, you have to get the facts out. You have to really understand what the process is and what the variables are in the process that will make for an effective candidacy, and then you have to look at it and say OK, well, I could have an effective candidacy. Now, is this the best thing to do?

And in politics, of course, when you're trying to do something like that and you're not in politics, like now, it becomes more of a public process, whereas in reality, people who have been in this all their lives, they are making these calculations all of the time. I mean, it's what politicians normally do.

O'BRIEN: So, are you saying -- are you saying that people shouldn't read much into -- there are reports that say you're gathering a staff. Is that true? And if it is true, are you saying, then, well, no one should read anything into that?

CLARK: Well, I would say this: That if you made such a decision and you didn't have a first staff, then the first question that people would ask is: Well, where is your staff? And how could you be sure you'll get a staff? So, how could you make a good decision? So, it must be a weird decision. O'BRIEN: So, the staff is just part of the decision-making process.

CLARK: So -- absolutely. It's a matter of, you know, people asking is it too late? Well, what is too late mean? It means can you get money? I have not raised money, but I've talked to a lot of people who could be of assistance. And is it too late to find a staff? And so, yes, I'm talking to staff, because I think those are elements of the decision.

O'BRIEN: You've been meeting with some of the men who would like to be president -- Howard Dean, for example. Would you want to be his running mate?

CLARK: Well, for me, there is only one decision to make, and that is: Do you run for the office of the presidency of the United States, or do you decide to stay in private business? That's the only decision.

O'BRIEN: You have no interest in being a vice presidential candidate.

CLARK: Well, that's not - that's just not the decision at this point. I think that, you know, everything that comes along, if you're patriotic you have to consider it. Someone's not going to offer something like that and you say, well, I just -- you know, I'll turn it away with a wave of the hand. No. You would consider it, but that's not the consideration. That's not the decision. That's not what I and my family are being asked to consider.

O'BRIEN: What do you think of him as a candidate? Would you vote for him?

CLARK: Well, I like all of the people who are running.

O'BRIEN: Every one? Every single one?

CLARK: I absolutely do. They've all -- you know, I tremendously admire these men and women who are in this process, because it takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of organizational skills, and it takes a tremendous amount of stamina. And Howard Dean's been running for over a year, but so have many of the others in one way or another.

And so, I think that the American people should really be proud of the political process that we have, of people on both sides of the aisle who will dedicate their lives to public service through the political process.

O'BRIEN: You've got a resume that I think it's fair to say people would kill to have. You're a Rhodes scholar, first in your class at West Point. You have, you know, a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, a Purple Heart -- the list goes on and on and on. If, hypothetically, you were to enter the race, who do you think you give the most problem to? What other candidate suffers by you entering?

CLARK: Well, I think if I were to enter the race, the person that would be most troubled is the president, because I'm a military person. I've got ideas on national security and strategy, and I think it's pretty clear that they're very concerned.

O'BRIEN: If you were president, how would you find Osama bin Laden? What would your next step be in Iraq and in the Middle East?

CLARK: Well, I'd be concentrating resources on going after terrorist and terrorist networks, and not diverting resources going after states, because the nature of terrorism shifted in the late 1990s.

And so, these international networks like Osama bin Laden's, they use states to some extent, but they're not a function of states. Sometimes they're using states without even getting any active support from the leadership itself. And if you go after the states, you end up with a problem then of taking care of the state that you've knocked off, and it's an expensive and difficult proposition. And in the long run, it may be better for the United States to focus more directly on the terrorists, at least that's my hypothesis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: General Wesley Clark.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, will he or won't he run for president? Wesley Clark is not saying. There is speculation, of course, that the retired Army general will make his candidacy official next week. If he does run, he will be the 10th Democrat in the race.
Earlier this morning, I spoke with General Clark about the possibility that he'll enter the presidential fray.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: The basic issue is: What is the best way to make a contribution to the safety, security and the people of the United States? Is it to run for office? Is it to stand on the sidelines and offer comments? Is it to just go into private business and be a good citizen and help the local community?

O'BRIEN: When do you make a decision? How far away -- how long do we have to wait, I guess is the way to put that question?

CLARK: Sometime pretty soon I think I will make a decision.

O'BRIEN: A week? A couple of days?

CLARK: I think, you know, when you're looking at something like this, you have to get the facts out. You have to really understand what the process is and what the variables are in the process that will make for an effective candidacy, and then you have to look at it and say OK, well, I could have an effective candidacy. Now, is this the best thing to do?

And in politics, of course, when you're trying to do something like that and you're not in politics, like now, it becomes more of a public process, whereas in reality, people who have been in this all their lives, they are making these calculations all of the time. I mean, it's what politicians normally do.

O'BRIEN: So, are you saying -- are you saying that people shouldn't read much into -- there are reports that say you're gathering a staff. Is that true? And if it is true, are you saying, then, well, no one should read anything into that?

CLARK: Well, I would say this: That if you made such a decision and you didn't have a first staff, then the first question that people would ask is: Well, where is your staff? And how could you be sure you'll get a staff? So, how could you make a good decision? So, it must be a weird decision. O'BRIEN: So, the staff is just part of the decision-making process.

CLARK: So -- absolutely. It's a matter of, you know, people asking is it too late? Well, what is too late mean? It means can you get money? I have not raised money, but I've talked to a lot of people who could be of assistance. And is it too late to find a staff? And so, yes, I'm talking to staff, because I think those are elements of the decision.

O'BRIEN: You've been meeting with some of the men who would like to be president -- Howard Dean, for example. Would you want to be his running mate?

CLARK: Well, for me, there is only one decision to make, and that is: Do you run for the office of the presidency of the United States, or do you decide to stay in private business? That's the only decision.

O'BRIEN: You have no interest in being a vice presidential candidate.

CLARK: Well, that's not - that's just not the decision at this point. I think that, you know, everything that comes along, if you're patriotic you have to consider it. Someone's not going to offer something like that and you say, well, I just -- you know, I'll turn it away with a wave of the hand. No. You would consider it, but that's not the consideration. That's not the decision. That's not what I and my family are being asked to consider.

O'BRIEN: What do you think of him as a candidate? Would you vote for him?

CLARK: Well, I like all of the people who are running.

O'BRIEN: Every one? Every single one?

CLARK: I absolutely do. They've all -- you know, I tremendously admire these men and women who are in this process, because it takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of organizational skills, and it takes a tremendous amount of stamina. And Howard Dean's been running for over a year, but so have many of the others in one way or another.

And so, I think that the American people should really be proud of the political process that we have, of people on both sides of the aisle who will dedicate their lives to public service through the political process.

O'BRIEN: You've got a resume that I think it's fair to say people would kill to have. You're a Rhodes scholar, first in your class at West Point. You have, you know, a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, a Purple Heart -- the list goes on and on and on. If, hypothetically, you were to enter the race, who do you think you give the most problem to? What other candidate suffers by you entering?

CLARK: Well, I think if I were to enter the race, the person that would be most troubled is the president, because I'm a military person. I've got ideas on national security and strategy, and I think it's pretty clear that they're very concerned.

O'BRIEN: If you were president, how would you find Osama bin Laden? What would your next step be in Iraq and in the Middle East?

CLARK: Well, I'd be concentrating resources on going after terrorist and terrorist networks, and not diverting resources going after states, because the nature of terrorism shifted in the late 1990s.

And so, these international networks like Osama bin Laden's, they use states to some extent, but they're not a function of states. Sometimes they're using states without even getting any active support from the leadership itself. And if you go after the states, you end up with a problem then of taking care of the state that you've knocked off, and it's an expensive and difficult proposition. And in the long run, it may be better for the United States to focus more directly on the terrorists, at least that's my hypothesis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: General Wesley Clark.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.