General Wesley Clark Guest Blogs at TPMCafe

Army General Wesley Clark is guest blogging this week at top liberal community blog TPMCafe. He penned a Washington Post editorial on August 26 about the Iraq War, and yesterday, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press with three other generals. Read details of both here.

This morning, I posed a question to General Clark at TPMCafe, and he posted a thoughtful response. Thought you might be interested, so here are both:
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From Deborah White on Aug 29, 2005 -- 10:41:27 AM EST

"Welcome, General Clark.

Your WaPo editorial gave me a great sense of relief that a US leader.....regardless of political party......has a credible, rational plan, honed on experience, of how to handle and resolve the Iraq War. (Sadly, it almost feels odd in this era to hear a leader even suggesting diplomacy. Whatever happened to diplomacy?)

And your Meet the Press appearance was also reassuring. I appreciate your willingness to admit that this war was a terrible mistake. One of your most appealing attributes as a presidential candidate is your willingness to be outspoken and speak the truth that others finesse.

I admit...I and many of my readers just want to leave Iraq now. It was started on lies, is presently deadly and directionless, and seems to be accomplishing nothing positive. You make the case palatable that we can't now "cut and run." Palatable, but still very hard to swallow. No one wants their loved one to die for a meaningless conflict.

General Clark, included on the last Bush administraton spending request for Iraq were billions for "permanent" bases for US armed forces, as well as billions more for the world's largest embassy. It would be a virtual fortress, owned and staffed by the US, with state-of-the-art technology for surveillance, etc. Once built....if not already built.....the US embassy and camps would costs US taxpayers billions more to maintain.

The assumption by most is that these constructions are to give the US a permanent presence in Iraq and the Middle East...to control oil and political affairs and to conduct surreptitious surveillance.

Do you approve of a permanent significant US presence in Iraq? If yes, why and for what purpose? If not, what do we do with these constructions?

Again, welcome to the blogosphere. Would love to interview you sometime for my site at US Liberals at About.com."
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From wclark on Aug 29, 2005 -- 12:19:27 PM EST

"The truth is that our soldiers are under attack in Iraq. The fact that these are listed as permanent bases is probably an indication that they'll be constructed to provide better protection for our soldiers. They don't necessarily mean that we'll stay there indefinitely. I would certainly not want us to stay there indefinitely, but we do need to do everything we can to protect our troops.

I believe that we should be out of Iraq as soon as possible, but to come out, we need to do the work that will promote our interests in the region to the best of our ability. This means setting up an Iraqi state and working with Iraq's neighbors to defuse further conflicts and strife in the region.

If in that process the Iraqi government asks us to stay there for another year or two at a reduced level, it would be hard to say no. But I think our overall interests are best served by removing our forces from Iraq over the longer-term.

Wes