Friday, March 18, 2005 | 8:26 a.m.
If the United States wants to woo the world to democracy, it needs to reach out to other nations economically and diplomatically, but it cannot run out on Iraq, retired general turned investment banker Wesley Clark said.
While Americans may feel as if their lives are in turmoil, Clark said other people living under oppressive governments believe the United States is a shining example of freedom.
Last week Clark said he talked to a taxi driver from Afghanistan in New York City.
"He said it is still the only country in the world where you can come and make something out of nothing," Clark said at UNLV Thursday night.
The former NATO supreme allied commander, decorated and retired four-star general and former presidential candidate talked to more than 300 people in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall as part of the spring lecture series sponsored by UNLV's student government. His lecture fee was $21,000.
The United States and the rest of the world is in transition from an old order that lasted until the end of the Cold War when the United States and Soviet Union kept arsenals of nuclear weapons pointed at one another.
"When we won the Cold War, we lost our adversary and our purpose in the world," Clark said.
When he came to Washington, D.C., in 1994, Clark faced genocide in Rwanda, North Korea raising a threat of nuclear weapons development and the question of a war strategy for Bosnia.
"There was no strategy," Clark said.
Then came 9/11, when the world crashed in on America, Clark said.
President Bush's answer was a preemptive strike on Iraq.
But the preemptive strategy isn't working, Clark said, because there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. And Osama bin Laden, who led the terrorists, is still on the loose.
"On the Middle East it is clear that the country was misled on the war in Iraq," Clark said. "I guess the responsibility stops where Harry Truman said it did, at the president's desk."
Clark said that he supported embedding journalists in the Iraq war, but government-sponsored video spots to support Bush administration policies might confuse Americans.
"The (television) stations have the responsibility to know the difference," he said, because an independent media is vital for democracy.
Terrorism is still "the most immediate threat" to the United States and its citizens, Clark said.
"We've got a long way to go to make America safe and secure," Clark said.
In the past year, the United States made mistakes in Iraq, he said.
"We provided the bed where the insurgents could grow," Clark said.
As for the situation in Iraq today, no one should set a deadline on when U.S. troops can leave, Clark said, since they are trying to prevent a civil war. American troops have to stay the course.
"Once you go to war, you have to win," Clark said. "You can't call it off."
Whether some form of democracy will work in Iraq remains to be seen, he said, adding that "it's not clear to me that it will happen."
The United States should be talking to Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, Syria and Lebanon, he said.
"Before the United States attacks, we better have tried every diplomatic means available; use of force should be the last resort," he said.
There is great power in communication, according to Clark, who believes that even talking to North Korea might disarm that country and cause them to give up nuclear weapons.
While Israel can protect itself, Palestine and Israel will have to make sacrifices in order to decide land issues, Clark said.
The biggest challenge facing America today is staying ahead of the economic engines driving China and India, he said.
Through an alliance with NATO, the United States should align with Europe to guide the evolution of key players China and India onto the international economic stage, Clark said.
The United States is hardly bankrupt with $11 trillion a year of income and a deficit of $400 billion.
"We're the wealthiest nation in the world, we are the most powerful nation in the world. We gave a tax cut we couldn't afford," Clark said, referring to Bush's tax relief for what Clark termed "the wealthiest Americans."
Asked before the speech if he would run for president again, as he did in September 2003, Clark said he has not ruled out another campaign.
He spoke fondly of his experiences in Las Vegas, recalling when he and his wife drove from Fort Irwin, Calif., in 1969 and stayed at Circus Circus. Although the couple was practically broke, his wife won $20 at the casino.
"And we ate on that."
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