LETTERS TO THE EDITOR April 19, 2006
Zinni's dubious spin
As an addendum to Tony Blankley's excellent analysis of the apparent conspiracy by several retired generals to force the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense ("Seven days in April," Op-Ed, yesterday), I wish to add my two cents.
I am troubled by the statements of retired U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Anthony Zinni. If news reports are accurate, I believe Gen. Zinni's recent declarations make him guilty of perjury as well as contempt of Congress.
In an interview on "Meet the Press," Gen. Zinni said, "And what bothered me [was that] ... I was hearing a depiction of the intelligence that didn't fit what I knew. There was no solid proof, that I ever saw, that Saddam [Hussein] had [weapons of mass destruction]."
In early 2000, Gen. Zinni told Congress, "Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Arabian Gulf region" and added, "Iraq probably is continuing clandestine nuclear research, [and] retains stocks of chemical and biological munitions ... Even if Baghdad reversed its course and surrendered all WMD capabilities, it retains scientific, technical and industrial infrastructure to replace agents and munitions within weeks or months."
Those two public statements by Gen. Zinni, one while on active duty and presumably under oath before Congress and the other after retiring from the military, are contradictory. Whom do you believe, Zinni 2000 or Zinni 2006?
What Gen. Zinni has succeeded in doing with his recent condemnations of Mr. Rumsfeld has been to bring discredit upon himself. He should be called to account, if not by Congress, then surely by the media.
RICHARD W. RESSLER North Olmsted, Ohio
Zinni is trying to position himself for a position in a Democrat administration, and the way to help his cause is to disparage the Bush presidency hoping it will help prevent Repubs winning in 08.
I despise general officers that have traded their integrity for personal gain - which seems to be an apparent case with Zinni.
George and I discussed this earlier in this thread.
Zinni is a liar like so many libs. For decades they have gotten by with any lie as long as it harms Republicans.
Now with the search capabilities of the internet, when they lie Zinni did, they are exposed as liars in a very short time.