ignition question

my 96 sport 5 speed is having intermittent starting issues. sometimes when i turn the key nothing at all happens, no crank, no juice and then upon retrying it fires right up. I thought that there was a clutch interlock in this model year, but it stars w/o my foot on the pedal. could this be the issue? i want to make sure i fix and isolate now before getting stuck on the side of the road

Same thing was happening on my wifes 97 XJ. When I wiggled the positive wire that runs to the starter, it sort of fell off (at the battery terminal) and the wire inside the insulation was that corroded green color.

Cut an inch off the end, stripped the wire and then shoved it under the clamp and ran it up the post a bit. Clamped it all back down and its been happy for now.

Make sure that the starter wire is not corroded inside. You need all the wires to get enough juice down to the starter, if a few of them are corroded you wont get the full power needed and will start getting intermittant starts.