US must include Iran and Syria in effort for peace

Dubai: Potential Democratic candidate for US president in 2008 Wesley Clark said yesterday America should listen to both allies and rivals in the Middle East to resolve the war in Iraq.

"The US needs to talk to people in the region, with no preconditions, including people we don't agree with," said Clark, a retired four-star Army general who was in Dubai this week as part of the Arab Strategy Forum.

Clark ran for US president in 2004 and is considering a run in 2008.

During an interview with Gulf News, Clark said friends and allies in the Arab world tell him the US should work more closely with them.

"I'm hearing a desire for dialogue. People are tired of war," he said. "There hasn't been an effective dialogue between the United States and the countries in the region, including Syria and Iran. I think you have to broaden the conversation to include them."

Clark was the last to join the field of Democratic presidential contenders for the 2004 election, who eventualy withdrew after trailing John Kerry and John Edwards in the primaries.

Many see Clark as a challenger to the 2008 presidential election, but he said he hasn't decided yet. "I haven't said I won't run. I'm looking at it," he said.

Clark capped a 38-year career in the US military as head of the US European Command and Nato's Sup-reme Allied Commander in Europe during the Balkan crisis in the late 1990s.

In the recent mid-term elections, Clark supported Democratic candidates through his political action committee. The Demo-crats' successful takeover of both houses of Congress indicates that Americans desire a change in foreign policy.

"The American people have spoken, and they want to see a foreign policy that is premised more on cooperation and working with allies and friends rather than intervention by force," he said.

However, he noted that it will be difficult for Demo-crats to conduct policy from Congress.

"Foreign policy is essentially driven by the executive branch. However, the election victory has given the Demo-crats in Congress the authority to ask the tough questions and hold the administration accountable," he said.

Echoing his views during the 2004 presidential run, Clark took aim at the Bush Administration's handling of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There were a lot of mistakes made," he said. "I think there is a pretty wide understanding by the American people about those mistakes, starting with the decision to invade Iraq and the failure to put adequate resources in Afghanistan in the early follow-through there."