Gen. Wesley Clark Defends Trump’s Threat to Tehran: Admin Understands ‘Risk of Consequences’
Former Gen. Wesley Clark appeared with S.E. Cupp Saturday, where she asked him to comment on President Donald Trump threatening to strike sites important to Iran if the country retaliates.
“It’s probably a good statement by the president. I think the administration understands that there’s a serious risk of consequences here. I think they understand it’s unlikely the Iranian regime will now come hat in hand to the negotiating table, ‘OK you killed our number two guy, let’s talk, we’re ready to surrender.’ They’re not going to do that,” Clark told Cupp on S.E. Cupp Unfiltered Saturday.
The former NATO commander went on to say the warning will probably be ignored by Iran because the killing of top military leader Qasem Soleimani is not something the country’s leadership can afford to ignore politically.
“It’s probably not going to work. I’d say the odds are that, given Iran’s politics domestically … it’s going to have to find a way to strike back,” he continued.
“I want to make sure we’re not overreacting or under-reacting,” Cupp said. “People are talking about this setting off a World War III. How likely is that?”
“This act might take us — probably takes us to a new phase in our 40-year struggle with Iran,” Clark said. “Because we have been disproportionate in our response and we’ve taken out somebody that they really value.”
“Iran is a nation of more than 80 million people. It’s too big, too diverse, it’s too difficult geographically to ever think the United States will ever go in there and occupy that country. We didn’t do very well against a smaller country like Iraq. So we’re not going to go in there. After you pound it and so forth, what are you left with? At best a failed state, at worst a state that maybe they do have nuclear weapons,” he explained.
“We don’t know how the geopolitics of this could spin out of control,” Clark surmised.
UPDATE: In a statement released Monday, Clark said he was unaware of the part of Trump’s statement where he specifically threatened Iranian cultural sites when he offered his reaction to Cupp.
“Such a tactic would be a war crime. I unequivocally oppose it,” Clark stated.
This weekend, I was asked to react to a tweet from President Trump that I had not yet seen. When asked to react to part of it, I was unaware he said he would target cultural sites in Iran, in future attacks. Such a tactic would be a war crime. I unequivocally oppose it.
— Wes Clark (@GeneralClark) January 6, 2020
Watch above, via CNN.
