Zinni was canned because he is a raving loony Clintonite that thinks the military should become all hearts and minds. He simply sold out to the "Peace Now" crowd and was a risk in a command slot. Like most Clintonites, he confused politicals with military duties. Not acceptable.
The type of mostly "under the radar" losses that the nation suffers when a Dem is elected President. A Dem President gets in office and some of those Generals can't help themselves. And they start going to cocktail parties and expressing liberal political thoughts, then some Dem at the party spreads the word around, and the next thing you know, the General gets a plum position and/or gets promoted. Then the General retires and needs to keep up the image so he gets the right retirement jobs with the political network he is now connected to. So, he writes an anti-Repubican article and sits back and waits for an even better retirement job, especially if another Dem is elected President. Of course he sells out the troops when he does it, but he rationalizes to himself and others by claiming he is looking out for the troops. But of course he stopped looking out for the troops the day he went political.
You need to adjust your meds. Zinni retired on his own in August of 2000 after 35 years on active duty. He wasn't canned.