[SUSSA]

Retired General Anthony Zinni is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, four-star Marine general and former Central Command Chief in Charge of all U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf Region. In addition Zinni Was Selected Personally by George W. Bush as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East in 2001. He's not some anti-war hippy.

[sinkspur]

Doesn't matter. He staked out a position on this six years ago, and he can't be seen to be wrong now, even if he IS wrong.

Like Wesley Clark, he thinks he knows best.

[philo]

So your point is....

[MEG33]

Even heroes can be wrong.

[larryjohnson]

"...his careful plans had been disregarded."
Ah there's the rub. I respect the General's Service. He hates to be wrong. So do I. Will bookmark to see who's right.

[Shamrock-DW]

"Retired General Anthony Zinni is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, four-star Marine general and former Central Command Chief in Charge of all U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf Region. In addition Zinni Was Selected Personally by George W. Bush as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East in 2001. He's not some anti-war hippy."
 

No...he's just some has been/never was general who couldn't understand anything but conventional tactics.  A lot of flushing
has gone on in the military ranks and the trend is to merge conventional/unconventional warfare thinking.  It is the future of the military.

"Retired General Anthony Zinni is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, four-star Marine general and former Central Command Chief in Charge of all U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf Region. In addition Zinni Was Selected Personally by George W. Bush as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East in 2001. He's not some anti-war hippy."
 

[shrinkermd]

"I think a weakened, fragmented, chaotic Iraq, which could happen if this isn't done carefully, is more dangerous in the long run than a contained Saddam is now," he told reporters in 1998. "I don't think these questions have been thought through or answered." It was a warning for which Iraq hawks such as Paul D. Wolfowitz, then an academic and now the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, attacked him in print at the time.

"Now, five years later, Zinni fears it is an outcome toward which U.S.-occupied Iraq may be drifting. Nor does he think the capture of Hussein is likely to make much difference, beyond boosting U.S. troop morale and providing closure for his victims. "Since we've failed thus far to capitalize" on opportunities in Iraq, he says, "I don't have confidence we will do it now. I believe the only way it will work now is for the Iraqis themselves to somehow take charge and turn things around. Our policy, strategy, tactics, et cetera, are still screwed up."

The problem is one of strategy (policy) and tactics (military implementation). The good general is an expert at the latter and not the former. Actually, he simply parrots the excuses the Clinton Administration made for not doing anything about Sadaam. He probably also hates Wolfowitz and anyone else who wants to use force to obviate a threat to both us and Israel.

[M1911A1]

The General makes a good case that starting the war in Iraq was ill condidered. I believe that reasonable people can believe this (it was pre-emptive, the major domestic selling point, WMD, have yet to turn up, etc.).

However, started it was, and now we are there. I did not see his proposed course of action in this article, unless it involves turning back the clock.

I respect General Zinni. It may turn out that our efforts in Iraq do not turn out to our advantage, and in retrospect he will seem wise. But unless he has some proposal that I haven't heard, I think it would be best if he save this kind of talk for the next conflict.

[verity]

These jar jeads never learn. :~)

[fourhorsemen]

Retired General Anthony Zinni is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, four-star Marine general and former Central Command Chief in Charge of all U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf Region. In addition Zinni Was Selected Personally by George W. Bush as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East in 2001. He's not some anti-war hippy.

Perhaps, but he appears to have gone off the deep end. As a military vet he ought to know that sometimes the best policy is proactive engagement. Sun Tzu teaches that you fight on your own terms at a time of your own choosing. You don't wait to be struck.

[dts32041]

Smedly Butler your replacement has arrived.

[Hugin]

One of the negative side-effects of the Vietnam experience is that it created a defeatist expectation among many of the officers who served there, a sort of "can't do" attitude. One result was the Powell doctrine; never go to war unless you have overwhelming military power, total public support, and a well defined exit strategy. That's fine when you have the luxury of picking and choosing what wars to fight; it's a terrible idea when you are attacked. had the Brits followed the Powell doctrine Argentina would still have the Falklands.

In war you don't always have the luxury of having everything lined up perfectly ahead of time. Sometimes you have to go with what you've got and find a way to make it happen. That's what Rumsfeld's restructuring of the military is all about. And that's why he has gotten rid of a lot of Vietnam era generals who aren't willing to adapt, improvise and overcome. Zinni is no doubt a patriot and a fine soldier, but he is exactly the wrong kind of thinker for the war we are in today.

George McClellan had a fine record of service and said we were fighting a war that could not be won also. Meanwhile Gens. Grant and Sherman simply went out and won it.

[faithincowboys]

SO we should have done nothing after 9-11? Why wasn't he against Afghanistan? That was the Soviet's Vietnam after all. Doing anything was risky? Not doing anything was even riskier. I think doing Iraq how we did it set a lot of people who hate us back on their heels. I am glad about that. Zinni is a guy whose tool Nam-ed out. The men who fought that war are generally too screwed up to be good foreign policy guys. That war was too sour and it made them one note anti-force johnnys.

[af_vet_1981]

He's not some anti-war hippy.

He is publicly challenging our Commander-In-Chief during time of war. He is giving aid and comfort to our enemies. You tell me what that makes him.

[AndyJackson]

You know old generals - always losing the last war.

[hosepipe]

[ Zinni still talks like an old-school Marine -- a big-shouldered, weight-lifting, working-class Philadelphian ]

Meaningless!...is he a democrat ?... If he is he is clueless.. probably on military matters too!.. to remain a democrat with the democrat partys recriminations over at least the past 12 years is unconcionable and speaks to a possible treasonous bent... Disagree!, Weasely Clark is another good example.. still disagree, then you're probably stupid..

[desertcry]

SO? Or could it be that zinni's military career sky rocketed during the bent one's administration?

[onedoug]

We must win.

Otherwise, remove shoes before entering mosque.

[xzins]

Zinni never should have been put in charge of anything involving terrorism.

It was Zinni who approved, with our ambassador in Yemen, Barbara Bodein, the decision to have the Yemeni embassy at the highest alert level possible (level 4) while the USS Cole was told to be at only the 2nd highest alert when it entered Aden Harbor. Zinni and Bodein's decision to "play with" the harbor authorities in a terror alert situation makes them culpable in the deaths of those 17 sailors.

This contradiction has never been held up for public scrutiny. Both Zinni & Bodein were given early opportunity to prove themselves by the Bush Administration and both failed miserably and were sent packing.

[hedgetrimmer]

Aden, Yemen's largest city, has long been a known hub for terrorists in the region as well as a busy port for international arms sales, and the country had refused to join U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq. As a result, the State Department warned in travel advisories that the level of menace to U.S. citizens in Yemen was extremely high. Concern over terrorist attacks had also prompted the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, to veto several planned military ship visits to the country.

Despite the State Department's well-founded concerns, now-retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, serving as commander-in-chief for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, contracted with Yemen as a refueling stop for U.S. warships in an effort to "improve" relations with the country--a job usually left to civilian diplomats. We all know now how that effort turned out. On October 12, two men in a dinghy full of explosives rowed up to the USS Cole and blasted a 1,000-square-foot hole in the hull of the ship, killing 17 American sailors.

[Travis McGee]

Certainly his personal opinion is worth considering. No problem.