Washington (CNN)Retired Gen. Wesley Clark said Tuesday retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn will have to "reconcile the things he's said" about Muslims when he becomes national security adviser to President-elect Donald Trump.
Flynn tweeted in February, "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions..."
General Flynn ✔ @GenFlynn
Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions... http://youtu.be/tJnW8HRHLLw
"Well, I think if you ask Mike Flynn today, 'Would you like to have that tweet back?' he'd probably say, 'Yes. I'd like that tweet back,'" Clark told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."
"And one of the things Mike Flynn said earlier when he was in Afghanistan is he was very sensitive to public opinion among the Afghan population, he was very sensitive to Muslim sentiment, and he knew you couldn't win if you alienated the Islamic population there. So he's going to have to reconcile the things he's said with what he knows to be right," Clark said.
He added: "It's going to be a challenge, that national security adviser position is a big, tough position."
Clark, who ran for president in the 2004 election as a Democrat and dropped out to support eventual nominee John Kerry, said that he had not worked directly with Flynn but that he's heard good things about him.
"He's an Army officer. He's come up through the ranks. A lot of people I respect had a lot of strong feelings, a lot of very strong feelings for Mike Flynn," he said. "So I hope he'll do the best he can and I hope it'll be good enough to move the country in the right direction."
Flynn tweeted in February, "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions..."
General Flynn ✔ @GenFlynn
Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions... http://youtu.be/tJnW8HRHLLw
"Well, I think if you ask Mike Flynn today, 'Would you like to have that tweet back?' he'd probably say, 'Yes. I'd like that tweet back,'" Clark told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."
"And one of the things Mike Flynn said earlier when he was in Afghanistan is he was very sensitive to public opinion among the Afghan population, he was very sensitive to Muslim sentiment, and he knew you couldn't win if you alienated the Islamic population there. So he's going to have to reconcile the things he's said with what he knows to be right," Clark said.
He added: "It's going to be a challenge, that national security adviser position is a big, tough position."
Clark, who ran for president in the 2004 election as a Democrat and dropped out to support eventual nominee John Kerry, said that he had not worked directly with Flynn but that he's heard good things about him.
"He's an Army officer. He's come up through the ranks. A lot of people I respect had a lot of strong feelings, a lot of very strong feelings for Mike Flynn," he said. "So I hope he'll do the best he can and I hope it'll be good enough to move the country in the right direction."