It was a good interview, and Stephanie Miller replayed some of it this morning. Excerpt:
BLITZER: Let's talk briefly about Iran. The nuclear possibility of some sort of standoff with Iran over nuclear weapons, if in fact they ever get that far. Do you think this is a crisis yet, what's happening in Iran?
CLARK: No, I don't think it's a crisis, Wolf. But all of us who knew the situation in the Middle East would have told you that the Iranian threat was a much more real threat than the Iraqi threat was, but we invaded Iraq. Iran took the message from it and realized if it's going to achieve safety, it needs to do as North Korea has done which is go ahead and accelerate its nuclear development program. So if the Bush administration or our allies in the region feel that this is moving to a crisis, it will become a crisis quickly.
BLITZER: What would you do right now as far as Iran is concerned?
CLARK: What I would have done years ago is work with our European allies directly in the discussions with Iran.
BLITZER: But isn't that what they're doing? The Europeans are taking the initiative, they're leading the diplomacy with the Iranians.
CLARK: They are. But the Europeans would be the first to tell you that without U.S. participation, neither the carrots nor the sticks make sense.
BLITZER: So you would have the six-party talks in Iran, but you don't want the six-party talks in North Korea. Am I sensing a little contradiction there?
CLARK: Not really. I think what you're seeing from me is the requirement for American diplomatic leadership. The United States needs to be engaged and leading diplomatically. Is it not China's responsibility to lead in Asia, it is ours. It is not the European's responsibility in Iran. It is ours. We're the major power. We're the power that can confer benefits, we're the power that can really drive sanctions or other efforts against...
BLITZER: But General, doesn't China have the most leverage over North Korea?
CLARK: Well, actually, the issue really is between North Korea and many different nations. China does have leverage over North Korea, but so do many other countries. In fact the North Koreans are looking -- what they're looking for is some, some -- basically assurances of regime stability. And that we're not going to overturn their regime. China's much less likely to do that than the United States is. So they're focused on us. I think it is great if we can involve China in there, but having the Chinese is no excuse for a lack of American leadership in these talks.
More:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/14/wbr.01.html
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