General blasts Bush post-war effort [Clinton's Somalia General]

Virginian-Pilot ^ | 9/4/03 | Dale Eisman

[TastyManatees]

General blasts Bush post-war effort
By DALE EISMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 4, 2003
Last updated: 7:15 PM

Anthony J. Zinni

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is in danger of squandering its battlefield victories in Iraq with a badly planned and underfunded reconstruction effort that threatens to ``break our military,'' a retired general who once commanded U.S. forces in the Middle East charged today.

``Whatever blood was poured onto the battlefield could be wasted if we don't follow it up with an understanding of what victory is,'' Anthony J. Zinni, a Marine who headed the U.S. Central Command when his service ended in 2000, told an audience of military officers and defense contractors.

Zinni said the U.S. military has proven its ability to ``kill people and break things'' but that policymakers now are asking it to do a job for which it's largely untrained and underequipped.

``These are culture wars we're involved with. We don't understand that culture,'' he said.

Zinni suggested that the nation needs to build an extensive civilian corps of engineers, economists, political leaders and others with the expertise and financial backing needed to rebuild countries ruined by despots or terrorist groups or develop a new kind of military force trained and equipped for those tasks.

``At the end of the third inning, (the Bush administration) declared victory and said the game's over. It ain't over,'' he asserted.

Zinni, now a consultant to the State Department, has spent most of the last 15 years working in and studying the Middle East. He warned before last spring's war in Iraq that the administration was not prepared to deal with postwar reconstruction of that country and he suggested Thursday that escalating violence and attacks on U.S. forces now are products of that unpreparedness.

Reach Dale Eisman at (703) 913-9793or icemande@msn.com

[TastyManatees]

Cue the last administration's "political" generals. They have been quite lively as of late, since they think national security issues will make them V.P. contenders. You may remember Zinni himself from his brilliant leadership in Somalia. Perhaps we shouldn't be eager to duplicate his efforts there.

Tasty Manatees

[Jeff Head]

Zinni, now a consultant to the State Department

The State Department continues to need a thorough house cleaning.

[Quilla]

Zinni must not have been paying attention. President Bush said major combat operations were over, never did he say the game was over.

Zinni suggested that the nation needs to build an extensive civilian corps of engineers, economists, political leaders and others with the expertise and financial backing needed to rebuild countries ruined by despots or terrorist groups or develop a new kind of military force trained and equipped for those tasks.

What the heck does he think we're doing? Extensive, sir, doesn't mean overnight.

[meenie]

An extensive corps of engineers, etc. will make better cannon fodder than combat troops. The security has to be in place before much can be done. It is slowly becoming apparent that our high tech precision warfare capabilities are limited when engaging with a stubborn uncooperative group of people like Iraq. Even now, a small percentage of the population, can reek havoc in reconstruction efforts.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Even now, a small percentage of the population, can reek havoc in reconstruction efforts.

There's a reason they are called terrorists.