General Clark speaking to a group of fellow officers, Nov 14th 2001.
General Clark Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Iraq. Sept 23, 2002.
Mr. Chairman, at the end of World War Two when the United States had a nuclear weapons monopoly and when our gross domestic product was fifty percent of the world's production, President Roosevelt and later President Truman recognized that even with that strength, The United States, by itself, wasn't strong enough, wasn't capable of handling all of the world's problems in assuring peace and security by itself. And so they sought to create an institution which would be better than the defunct League of Nations and they built the United Nations. And President Truman said the method of the United Nations should be that "Right makes might".
We've spent the fifty five, fifty seven years since then trying to develop international institutions that would help strengthen America and help protect our interests as well as the interests of people around the world.But we recognized that a world in which nations are only regulated and guided unilaterally in seeking their self-interest is not a world that's in our best advantage
.So for that reason I think it's very important not only that we've gone to the United Nations, but that we do everything we possibly can do to strengthen the United Nations to stand up to this challenge, to make itself an effective organization, to be able to cope with the challenge of Saddam Hussein's defiance of it's resolutions.
Beyond the issue of The United Nations and the international institutions we seek to live in, I think going to The United Nations has another important, very important, benefit. In the long run, we're going to have to live with the people in the Middle East. They're our neighbors. They're just like us. Many of them have the same hopes and dreams. The more we can do to difuse the perception that America is acting alone, that America is striking out, that America is belligerent, that America is acting without Allies, The more we can do to difuse that, the more we can do to put that in the context of international institutions and the support of the governments in the region, the greater chance we have of reducing the recruiting draw of Al Quaeda; Following through with the successful post-conflict operation in Iraq; Promoting a resolution of the Arab Israeli conflict and promoting peaceful democratization in a number of moderate Arab governments
.So I think the long term consequences, the long term benefits of operating through The United Nations are very high.And finally there's an immediate short term benefit. It'll be very, very useful to us to have Allies. Many nations in that region want us to go throught The United Nations. They'll be empowered by The United Nations Resolution. So I think if we can get that Resolution it's to our near term military advantage and our long term advantage as a nation.
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"By lumping the two together - Al Quaeda and Saddam Hussein, it's also possible that we will have incentivized Saddam Hussein, now, as a last ditch defense, to do what he wouldn't have done before, which is 'Go find me the nearest members of Al Quaeda, here - take this sack and do something with it'. So it's not clear which way this cuts right now but at some point we are going to have to deal with Saddam Hussein. We are going to have to work against the weapons of mass destruction not only there but also in the case of Iran."...
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"I would hope that we will go through the established mechanisms and use NATO and the concensus engine of NATO in an effective way to help us get a grip on the War on Terror to an extent we haven't done yet and also to help us deal with the problem of Iraq. If we do that, of course, whenever you work with Allies, and they sign up to it, they want assurances from you about what you're going to do, what you're going to bomb, how soon you're going to do this. And it is dificult, time-consuming, and in some cases restraining. But I think, as General Shali made clear, the advantages are so overwhelming that we really need to pursue that route in this case"
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"There are those who say that if we go into Iraq it will send a very strong message to those nations that are playing both sides. Countries like, for example, Yemen, where we've had some dificulty gaining access and it may send the kind of message to Yemen that says 'We're going to get rid of Al Quaeda right now. Turn 'em all over and invite the Americans in'. On the other hand if we go in unilaterally, or without the full weight of international organizations behind us - If we go in with a very sparce number of Allies - If we go in without an effective information operation that takes us through the [operation] and explains the motives and purposes in very clear aims and the ability to deal with the humanitarian and post-conflict situation - we're liable to supercharge recruiting for Al Quaeda"
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Senator Jeff Sessions: Ultimately, aren't we at a point where we're going to have to either quit and go home or take action?
Wesley Clark: Well I don't know that we're at that point right now Senator. I think it's...
Senator Jeff Sessions: (loudly) Well how much much longer do you think we need to wait?!
Wesley Clark: I think its clear that you have to look ahead and see. I think you need to work through all options. When you're talking about American men and women going and facing the risk we've been talking about this afternoon, and if you're talking to the mothers and the loved ones of those who die in that operation, you want to be sure that you're using force and expending American blood and lives and treasure as the ultimate last resort. Not because of a sense of impatience with the arcane ways of international institutions or frustration from the domestic political processes of Allies. And so, I'm not on the inside of those negotiations. I can't tell you how much furthur they are. But I do know from my experience in working in Europe and inside NATO that it takes a lot of diferent twists sometimes diplomatically to get the outcome you want.
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Wesley Clark: I think that the last phrase in there is a very, very sweeping phrasiology. Because it's not only international peace and security in Iraq, it's the region. I realize that's why that's in there but I think that we will gain power with this resolution and we'll gain effectiveness in our military operation and in our public diplomacy the more tightly we focus our efforts on the specific objectives that we seek. So region is one of those terms.. Is it.. Are we going to restore peace and security in, between the Palestinians and the Israelis by this phrasiology? What exactly does it mean and so therefore what I would prefer to see is something like...
Senator John Warner: If I could came back because my time has run long, but, you remember, Congress passes this in October, they're going home. They're scattered to 50 states and portions of the world.
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"I would hope that before we would use force as authorized here we would have exhausted all other means. If there's a way of incorporating that in the Resolution I think it makes the Resolution stronger, not weaker"
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"Unless there's information that we're not being presented that says we have to take this action 'Right now' to go in and disrupt Saddam Hussein. 'We can't wait a week.', 'We can't wait four weeks.' or whatever, then, it seems to me that we should use the time available to build up our legitimacy, And that's why I'm advocating intrusive inspections."
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