Americans `conned' into backing war, ex-general asserts

Chicago Tribune ^ | Dec. 31, 2003 | Thomas Ricks

[Rennes Templar]

Former Central Command chief Anthony Zinni denounces `ideologues' in Bush administration

Anthony Zinni's opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq began on the monsoon-ridden afternoon of Nov. 3, 1970. He was lying on a Vietnamese mountainside west of Da Nang, three rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle in his side and back. He could feel his lifeblood seeping into the ground as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

He had plenty of time to think in the following months while recuperating in a military hospital in Hawaii. Among other things, he promised himself that, "If I'm ever in a position to say what I think is right, I will. . . . I don't care what happens to my career."

[Cold Heat]

Containment was working.

This is by far the most hilarious words you have posted thusfar.

[af_vet_1981]

If you reread the section of President Bush's speech that I posted it is obvious that WMD is the strategic issue and after Sept. 11th we don't have to publicly prove a regime has nukes, anthrax, or any other WMD to strike. We will not wait to be victims. We know they are plotting our destruction. We know they are in league. This is not a game. Thank G-d we have a President (and Vice President) who gets it.

[af_vet_1981]

Uh, yes it did. They were not even close to a workable nuclear weapon after years of trying.

North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, some of the Saudis, hopefully very few of the Jordanians and Egyptians, assorted other terrorist players and regimes. We will not wait for them to have a workable nuclear weapon (except NK unfortunately). We will preemptively launch a first strike (as we should, even in the case of NK).

[Stultis]

Anthony Zinni's opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq began on the monsoon-ridden afternoon of Nov. 3, 1970.

Oh, Brother.

[Cold Heat]

They were not even close to a workable nuclear weapon after years of trying.

They have equipment that we want destroyed and also they have materials that we want in safe keeping.

They want the sanctions lifted and full participation in the global economy.

They were also concerned about us, but I seriously doubt that they feared a invasion.

They are down pretty far on the list. It would have been a while.

[af_vet_1981]

I am an American.

So are the two Moslems being returned from the Phillipines.

I'll put you down as being an unwitting stooge for the terrorists for now.

[185JHP]

I remember the first time I read about this guy's jerky nastiness in the Wall Street Journal. I thought "No, another Crowe." It doesn't matter how many snakes he's eaten, or how many times he's been wounded. Jerkiness is as jerkiness does. Fortunately there are enough people who understand that holding this guy's behavior as beneath contempt is not only OK - it's a good thing.

[faithincowboys]

What a disgrace to all Italian Americans!

I wonder what induced him to shoot his mouth off.

Yeah, did the idiots that had us gas up in the Port of Aden ever get held accounatble? Of course not!

Zinni is a moron and so is Clark. The post-Vietnam army seems to have actively promoted guys loaded with BS and empty on strategic sense.

In Zinni's world, we should have sold out Israel and begged the Islamic Fundamentalists to not kill us. Zinni doesn't get it, there is no solution to the Mideast conflict, as far as the arabs are concerned, if Israel exists. Zinni is a joke and fool.

Perhaps there is something more nefarious, whose bidding is he doing?

[af_vet_1981]

They are down pretty far on the list. It would have been a while.

Not after a WMD attack on the U.S. or an ally that they were a party to. The retaliation will be most severe.

[CWOJackson]

"Yeah, did the idiots that had us gas up in the Port of Aden ever get held accounatble?"

That would be the Zinni his buds are trying to diligently to protect on this thread.

[kabar]

Containment was working.

On what basis do you make such a judgement? Besides, containment is not the objective post 9/11 per the Bush doctrine. Terrorists like al Qaeda are not state actors. Saddam had billions of dollars at his disposal to create all kinds of mischief including providing terrorists with WMD. We cannot allow states that support terrorism to provide a haven for the likes of al Qaeda. It is going to be a long slog, but we are dealing with asymetrical warfare. By the way, containment was also not working for the Iraqis, many of whom are buried in mass graves.

How many pilots were killed from 1991 to 2003 versus the latter half of 2003?

You are comparing apples to oranges, but I am sure that some lives were lost over the past 12 years due to accidents related to maintaining the no-fly zones. Thankfully, very few pilots lives were lost in liberating Iraq.

Very curious, don't you think?

It is curious. Perhaps there is plenty of blame to go around for the last three administrations, Congress, and the intel community.

[nightowl]

How was containment not working?

Saddam was trying to shoot our planes out of the sky on a daily basis in the no-fly zones. Do you call that containment?

Gen. Zinni's beef is that he is pissed because Rummy didn't use the plans he (Zinni) drew up it 1999. That is obvious by his ranting article. Zinni and his pacifist friends need to get over Vietnam. We live in a new day after 9/11. Those car bombs in Baghdad could be going off in St. Louis Indianapolis & Phoenix. We cannot live like that. Also, if Zinni thinks that Bin Laden pulled off 9/11 (i.e. Visas, bank accounts, airline schedules, etc from a cave without a state sponsor (Iraq), he needs his head examined along with Howard Dean's.

[af_vet_1981]

Did I write "invade" ?
I wrote "launch a first strike" or words to that effect.
The President has served notice that we will not wait to become victims of WMDs at the hands of these regimes.

This is not a game.
There are real threats.

[kabar]

We invaded Iraq and found a defunct nuclear weapons program. We are not going to invade North Korea despite their active and successful nuclear weapons program.

Defunct? Perhaps moribund, but not defunct if some of Saddam's scientists are to be believed. North Korea is a perfect example of why we should not wait for these states to acquire such weapons. It becomes infinitely more difficult to deal with them. Clinton thought he could negotiate his way out of the problem giving in to NK extortion.

[Cold Heat]

How was containment not working?

The entire system was breaking down. The weasels at the U.N. were using the oil money as a slush fund. They still are!

The Iraqi people were the only ones being contained and suffering the consequences. We knew it, and he knew it.

If your only idea of a threat to our security is a country that can lob a missile across the ocean, you are sadly mistaken.

Saddam was running a state, and that state back supporting with funds and helping with logistics the terrorists with local and global reach. The names are not important. The intent is.

From any stand point, including humanitarian, this guy needed to be taken out.

We must stabilize the Middle East for our and their sakes, because if we don't, we are all going to be destroyed by the consequences of inaction and the fallacy of containment.