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."

[okie01]

You posed that Saddam was not the leader of an Arab terrorist movement.

I responded that he was a supporter and harborer of same.

You changed the subject.

Did not Saddam Hussein encourage terrorism by giving $25,000 to the families of the Palistinian suicide bombers?

Did not Abu Nidal reside in Baghdad, under Saddam's protection? Is that not "harboring"?

Was not the Salman Pak site used for the training of Arab terrorists? Including members of al-Qaeda? And is that not supporting terrorism?

The quartermaster and protector of terrorists is a terrorist himself.

[goldstategop]

Anthony Zinny is a Ninny.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Not the point you made in your initial post.

To be correct, it's obviously not the point you gathered from my initial post.

[Trickyguy]

Excuse me General, with all due respect Sir, you were trained as a miltary man. It's obvious you don't know sh#t about foreign affairs.

And you are an expert in foreign affairs because...

Because he's a security guard living in a trailer court?

[kabar]

I've always found the pairing of Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV and Gen. Wesley Clark, when he was SACEUR, especially intriguing

Birds of a feather...Wilson is the State Department version of Clark and Zinni. He can't bear to leave the stage long after his part is over. Wilson donated $2000 to the Bush campaign hoping to get a job. Now he is playing the Dem side of the street. Just like Clark. No principles just naked ambition.

[Knightsofswing]

Also please excuse this old Sgt. Saddam had broken every promise, every u.n. order, and everything else. What were we to do just let him go? I think NOT!
I thank GOD everyday for President G.W. Bush! At least he has the guts to do what had to be done, no matter how distastful[sp!]

SEMPER FI!

[gatorbait]

You know, have you taken a look at whose by-line this is? Thomas Ricks , who hates the military and hates President Bush.. I am now wondering, seriously , just how much of this Zinni said and said directly.

Anyway,I disagree with his decision to say it at all..

[kabar]

The link between Saddam and pre-invasion anti-American terrorism is hardly conclusive and remains a very debatable issue

Iraq has been on the State Department's list of countries that support terrorism for over a decade. I suggest you take a look at Laurie Mylroie's "The War Against America" and "Bush vs the Beltway." She does a credible job of linking the intial attack on the WTC in 1993 to Iraq.

[madison10]

Excuse me General, with all due respect Sir, you were trained as a miltary man. It's obvious you don't know sh#t about foreign affairs.

And you are an expert in foreign affairs because...

One doesn't have to be an "expert" to realize another person is woefully lacking in said field of "expertise" and therefore NOT and expert.

[okie01]

"Wilson donated $2000 to the Bush campaign hoping to get a job. Now he is playing the Dem side of the street. Just like Clark. No principles just naked ambition."

But Joe is smarter than Clark -- which, admittedly, counts as faint praise. Wilson hedged his bet. The lovely Valerie donated $2000 to the Gore campaign -- citing her CIA cover company as her employer.

The whole Wilson/Plame affair has the air of somebody who craves attention and desires celebrity, doesn't it?

[kabar]

The whole Wilson/Plame affair has the air of somebody who craves attention and desires celebrity, doesn't it?

Agree. Wilson also wants another government job as either an ambassador or Assistant Secretary. He left his employment with the Department rather early for a career employee. I posit that he screwed up somehow (maybe his role in Iraq with April Glaspie) and realized that his career was over. Something fishy about his departure.

[okie01]

Something fishy about his departure.

The thought had occurred to me, as well.

Just as the unexpected departure of Plame's boss at CIA, Alan Foley, barely a month after Novak's column broke is, well, "fishy".

Thirty years in the foreign service, eh?

I passed the written, but failed the oral interview, for the foreign service in June, 1961. Was invited to try again but, by the time the next window rolled around, was on another career path.

I couldda been your boss...:)

[CWOJackson]

I disagree with a whole lot more then his current arguments. I disagree with his decision to force USN Ships to refuel in a port in a nation known to harbor terrorists...for political purposes.

I disagree with his putting a ship and it's crew in harms way for political purposes. I disagree that a Marine doesn't know that to tie a ship up in a hostile harbor, where it cannot maneuver or defend itself is border line criminal.

I disagree with this general killing members of the USS Cole, for political purposes.

[Cold Heat]

Those plans were referenced a few times in the press from Pentagon sources months before the war started. The general is struttin his stuff and has zero credibility as far as Iraq is concerned.

He is likely next to endorse Clark and is looking for work or attention.

This is purely political and just for hatred toward Rumsfeld and others in the admin.

He needs to do his duty and fade away. It is no longer his game to play.