Wesley Clark Quotes

I think it's [torture] a violation of international law and a violation of American law and a violation of the principles of good government in America. There have always been evidences of mistreatment of prisoners... George Washington told his soldiers... “No, treat them well.” He said, “They’ll join our side.” And many of them did. It was a smart policy, not only the right thing to do, but a smart policy to treat the enemy well. We've made countless enemies in that part of the world by the way we've treated people and disregarded them. It's bad, bad policy.

Maybe it's because I've never been in politics, but I don't believe that America is run by politicians in Washington. I believe it's run by people like us, in places like this.

I'm not running to bash George Bush. A lot of Americans really love him. They love what he represents, a man who's overcome adversity in his life from alcoholism and pulled his marriage back together and — and moved forward. But I'm running because I think this country must have better leadership in moving forward.

I think we should have international, legal community studies of cybersecurity and necessary laws, and countries should be encouraged to adopt these laws through the United Nations just like they adopt laws to prevent the abuse of children and protect human rights. There needs to be a multidimensional, multilayered and multi-azimuth defense. That is, defense has to look in all directions. When you're talking about cybersecurity, you're talking about being able to protect your points. It's not directed against a country, but to secure your points of access or specific end points or network access. It's not as though you're arming yourself against a specific threat — you're simply undertaking all aspects of protection.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, if you're an American you ought to be concern about strategy of the United States in this region, What is our aim? What is our purpose? Why are we there? Why are Americans dying in this region? That is the issue.

It is customary at occasions such as this for some old person to pass on his accumulated pearls of wisdom and life story to the young. But this is not a customary year. It is a year marked by distinctive tragedy and challenge, by events that no one at last year's commencement ceremony could have possibly anticipated. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took the lives of so many — Seton Hall graduates among them — and have affected us so deeply that it is impossible to speak here today without acknowledging the witness to tragedy which this University and its students have borne. These events delivered a four-fold shock to us and our country. The shock of our country, under attack. The shock that others would hate so much that they would kill themselves to hurt us. The shock of death to the youthful and innocent. The shock that the murderers would claim to have acted in the name of God.

I think the real question is if President Trump is going to look out for the welfare and safety of American soldiers and service members, or is he going to bow to Putin? ... He's taken many steps that look like he's trying to curry favor with Mr. Putin. And when he tries to do that for diplomatic reasons, you could disagree with that or maybe you'd agree with that. But when he accepts Mr. Putin putting bounties on our soldier and encouraging them to be killed — that's a line no president should accept.

People make mistakes. And one of the mistakes that the United States consistently made was that it could intervene and somehow adjust people's governments, especially in the Middle East.

If you want to talk about tragedies, how about this one? We bombed what we thought was a Serb police station in Kosovo... we found that there were Serb police vehicles parked there at night, so we sent an F-16 in, dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs and took it out. We killed 80 Albanians who had been imprisoned by the Serbs there. They were trying to escape, and the Serbs locked them up in this farmhouse... So, I regret every single innocent person who died, and I prayed every night that there wouldn't be any innocent people who died. But this is why I say you must use force only as a last resort.

The safety of our country demands an end to the doctrinaire, ineffective policies that currently grip Washington. Enough is enough! A safe America — a just America — that's what we want, that's what we need.

I would ask Americans to think deeply about who should be entrusted with the nation's nuclear codes. There is a clear choice. On one hand, there is Donald Trump. He admits he doesn't read or study deeply, thrives on Tweet-style communications, has a thin skin and a deep drive to avenge any slight, and has demonstrated very little knowledge of national security, foreign policy or the policies and strategies concerning nuclear weapons in particular. Educating someone like this once he became President could be a difficult — and extremely dangerous for our country. On the other hand is Hillary Clinton, former Senator and former Secretary of State, a person who does read and study deeply, communicates with nuance and sophistication born of years of experience in public life, has proven herself strong and steady under repeated personal attacks, and has become through her service and studies an expert on foreign and security policies, including the policies and strategies regarding nuclear weapons.

It's wrong to fight in Iraq? Well, I think it's a mistake. I think it's a bad strategy. I think it's brought us a lot of grief, and it will bring us a lot more grief. I think it's been a tremendous distraction from the war on terror, a diversion of resources, and it's reinforced our enemies... We need the courage of the leaders in the United States government: the generals who could affect the policy, the people in Congress who could force the president to change his strategy. That's...the courage that's needed.

The truth is, about the Middle East is, had there been no oil there, it would be like Africa. Nobody is threatening to intervene in Africa.

I think the United States military was as humane and careful as it possibly could have been in the Kosovo campaign. But still, civilians died. And I'll always regret that.

If Karl Rove is watching today, Karl, I want you to hear me loud and clear: I am going to provide tax cuts to ease the burdens for 31 million American families — and lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty — by raising the taxes on 0.1 percent of families — those who make more than $1,000,000 a year. You don't have to read my lips, I'm saying it. And if that makes me an 'old-style' Democrat, then I accept that label with pride and I dare you to come after me for it.