GEN. CLARK ON ISIS
"But you have to think beyond the military... what is the goal we are working for? What is Syria going to look like after all this is over? We don't want to make the mistake we made in Iraq, where we destroyed the state structures of the Iraq... You cannot do the bulk of the ground fighting with U.S. forces... ISIS is a threat to them, the ground fighting has to be done by Arab allies" (I FULLY AGREE but I DOUBT they can beat ISIS at ground fighting):
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1511/20/cnr.19.html
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: "And earlier, I asked the NATO commander, General Wesley Clark, to weigh in, and what it would take to defeat an enemy like ISIS?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: General Clark, welcome to the program.
Can I ask you, first, in the wake of the terrible attacks and what we are hearing from so many leaders, including the French president, that this is a war that has to be faced down, your comments on what Hillary Clinton said. She talked ground troops.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY: I think Hillary has it about right. I think you have the got to protect the Syrian opposition from the air attacks by the Assad regime, use U.S. Special Forces in there. But you have to think beyond the military. Here you have to ask yourself, what is the goal we are working for? What is Syria going to look like after all this is over? We don't want to make the mistake we made in Iraq, where we destroyed the state structures of the Iraq. There was no one to give driver's licenses, teach school, no one to run the museums, no one to do anything that was previously done by the state. We invalidated and got rid of them all because they were Baathists. We can't do that in Syria. We learned in Iraq that there is a state of chaos that follows that's simply unacceptable. So it's up to the West really to sketch the outline of how this will come together in the aftermath of the use of military force. Then to bring our Arab allies in together.
You cannot do the bulk of the ground fighting with U.S. forces. It's true. We are very good at defeating any force that fights us. But we are not very good at fighting in urban areas where there is a lot of civilians and people running in and out of buildings and shooting. We are under tight constraints. We go in, we can't identify friend from foe. We don't speak the language. That's a handicap on our forces. And it risks a lot of restrictive rules of engagement so we don't hurt innocent people.
We need our Arab allies to come forward. ISIS is a threat to them. ISIS has made a claim on Mecca, Medina. ISIS is not going to leave Turkey untouched. The Turks, the Kurds, the Saudis and others in the region have got to bear the brunt of the ground fighting. And then, the United States and Western European allies can provide air support, intelligence and logistics. But the ground fighting has to be done by Arab allies.\
AMANPOUR: So narrowing down an effective strategy.
TRANSCRIPTS.CNN.COM
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