Note the Lieberman comments.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20530769/OLBERMANN: Let‘s turn to General Wesley Clark, analyst for MSNBC and before that former supreme allied commander for NATO.
General Clark, great thanks for some of your time.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER FOR NATO: Good to be with you, Keith.
In May, when the president agreed to the benchmarks, he praised them. He said, quote, “They are a clear road map to help the Iraqis secure their country and strengthen their young democracy.” Does that not make it difficult for the White House to argue now that this GAO report will not present a true picture of the situation in Iraq because standards have been designed to lock in failure?
CLARK: Exactly right, Keith. They should not be able to squirm out from underneath these standards. The surge was portrayed to be a short-term effort starting in January. They‘ve shifted the goal posts each time in an effort to prolong the surge and the judgment. The truth is that the American people are making the judgment every day as they see the results of the war. The benchmarks confirm that judgment and this is a huge problem for the White House.
OLBERMANN: Does there seem to be continuing, in this, a tried and true aspect of blaming of Congress in this new strategy? Hey, it‘s not our fault. Congress is being unfair by holding us to all or nothing standards? The GAO is doing the same thing. Is that not the gist here?
CLARK: It‘s a great strategy. It‘s worked many times in the past.
But the difficulty is that although the leadership in Congress is Democratic, there‘s a very strong Republican minority in the House and in the Senate, because of Joe Lieberman. Actually the Senate seldom can put the pressure on the administration that‘s actually required to move the administration‘s policies in the right direction. OLBERMANN: Should the president request another $50 billion for this war in Iraq? Does he still have the political capital to get it? There was such coverage of this in the last two days that suggested the Democrats were going to go along with this.
CLARK: I don‘t think it‘s a matter of whether or not the Democrats say no to this. I think it‘s a question of what‘s the price that the president should be made to pay for coming back in and asking for the other $50 billion.
I‘ve argued for a long time that the problems we‘ve had in Iraq are problems of excessive focus on troops and tactics and not enough attention to the strategy, the diplomacy, the policies, the politics of the region. In essence that‘s what the GAO report confirms. And hopefully the Congress can use the occasion of the $50 billion request to hammer the president and the administration again to come forward with a realistic strategy for success in the region. Stop hiding behind General Petraeus. Let‘s hear this administration lay out a success strategy in the region.
OLBERMANN: Speaking of the $50 billion, there is a report that comes from Brit Hume from FOX News, who, let‘s face it, should be in a position to know, that the defense secretary, Mr. Gates, has been so marginalized by the White House he was not informed of that funding request. He read it in the paper. Also there this report from the McClatchy newspapers that Bush will get more than one recommendation from the Pentagon about Iraq.
Does this now seem more likely that the military leadership can‘t agree on what‘s best for Iraq? Is it that or that the White House once again plans to ignore any voices with which it does not agree so it‘s asking for several different reports and is going to pick the one it likes?
CLARK: I think it‘s a little bit of both. I do think it‘s an important thing for the field commander to stand on his own. I don‘t think you have to have a unified report from the Joint Chiefs. You can‘t hold people in lock step on this as a critical national issue. I think the American people are going to want to hear what General Petraeus says. General Petraeus is not responsible for the strategy in the region. He‘s not responsible for the diplomacy in the region. That‘s the responsibility of the White House itself and they should be held accountable for this.
OLBERMANN: He may not be largely responsible for a report which the administration continues to try to stick his name on.
General Wesley Clark, former supreme allied NATO commander in Europe and MSNBC analyst. As always, sir, thanks for your time.
CLARK: Thank you, Keith.
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