CLARK LETS POSITIONS BE KNOWN

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock said Sunday it is time to reopen
the cases of death-row inmates across the country and use new technologies
to help determine whether the convictions were just.

Clark made the comment while engaging in questions and answers with a crowd
of more than 350 at Philander Smith College, a historically black school in
Little Rock.

The hour-long session prompted Clark, one of the newest Democrats in the
2004 race for the White House, to express views on at least a few social
and foreign policy issues that are not standard parts of his campaign
speeches.

Clark will hold a similar session tonight with voters in Iowa, site of
Democratic Party caucuses on Jan. 19, a key step on the road to the
nomination.

Many members of the audience, including state Rep. John Lewellen, D-Little
Rock, predicted afterward that Clark would do well in attracting black
votes in the presidential race.

Lewellen said he was impressed with the selection of economic and social
issues that Clark spoke about.

On capital punishment, Clark told the crowd at the event, organized by the
Arkansas Black Legislative Caucus, "I'm very uneasy about the death penalty."

He called for "unpacking all those cases" to see if death sentences were
wrongly applied.

Clark said he is concerned by mounting evidence that legal mistakes are
often prevalent in capital sentences. But Clark said that he believes
government should retain the right to apply the death penalty in clear and
compelling cases. He cited the possible capture of Osama bin Laden as such
a case.

On other hot-button issues, Clark said he doesn't condone widespread use of
marijuana but would consider allowing it for pain relief. "We need to look
at that and make some allowances one way or another," the candidate said of
so-called medicinal marijuana usage.

Clark also said the only hope of winning the drug war is dealing with
demand, and that he is concerned about criminal sentencing policies, saying
that American prisons seem to be overflowing with prisoners serving time
for relatively minor crimes.

For the most part, Clark got an overwhelmingly friendly reception as the
crowd applauded almost everything the former NATO commander said, and gave
him and his wife, Gert, several standing ovations.

Clark appeared at ease before the crowd as he made several remarks
including a shot at President Bush that drew laughter.

Clark's biggest jab at the president came after a member of the audience
asked him to identify his personal qualities that would make a good
president. "I'm reasonably intelligent. I read," Clark said, prompting a
loud burst of hoots and chuckles.

He quickly added, tongue-incheek, "I didn't draw any comparisons."

Other qualities that would make him a good president, he said, are his
willingness to be a listener, his considerable life experiences both at
home and abroad, and his willingness to empathize and sympathize with others.

Clark, who has charged ahead of his rivals for the Democratic nomination in
national polls, is expected to issue additional economic-policy proposals
soon. He said "ordinary Americans" need to receive a greater share of the
nation's economic prosperity. "It is ordinary men and women who have made
the wealth of this country, and they deserve more of the benefit of it," he
said.

He added: "We're going to look at the tax code. We're going to look at
other things."

Clark has already called for taking back tax cuts that those making more
than $200,000 a year have received since President Bush took office in 2001
and using the money saved -- $100 billion over two years -- to fund a
variety of job-creation initiatives, including projects related to homeland
security.

An abundance of jobs helps in dealing with a wide range of social problems,
he said.

Meeting with reporters afterward, Clark said he would soon announce
specific proposals for improving the nation's health care system.

On international issues, Art English, political science professor at the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, asked the general a question on
behalf of his 16-year-old son, who was not with him.

English asked Clark to clarify once again his views on the war resolution
that Congress debated a year ago this fall.

Clark, who was accused of a flip-flop on this issue shortly after he
entered the race Sept. 17, said the only resolution he would have supported
were proposals giving the president the support of Congress to go to the
United Nations and seek a war resolution. But the same resolution also
would have required the president to come back to the Congress to seek
final permission on going to war. "I would have voted for leverage to get
the problem internationalized," he said, adding the world would have been
better off with 40,000 soldiers in Kuwait to monitor Iraq while a force of
more 10,000 weapons inspectors were inserted into the country to search for
weapons of mass destruction.

But now that we're in Iraq, "We need to make the best of it." No quick exit
strategy is available, he said. But Clark said the United States should
turn over all political and economic issues there to the United Nations
while keeping Americans in charge of necessary military forces.

More soldiers may be needed to help reduce the steady casualties American
forces are experiencing from week to week, he added afterward.