General Zinni, what a Ninny

townhall.com ^ | December 31, 2003 | Joel Mowbray

[Qatar-6]

To me his motivatrion is honest

Having served under the man and gotten to know him I can honestly say he doesn't have a political bone in his body

I was amazed he took the Palestine job. Effort was doomed to failure before it began

A politically astute person would have known that

Serving at the pleasure of the President I guess he felt there wasn't much choice

A more politically savvy person would have begged out

No, I believe the man is just telling the truth as he sees it

To answer your question, during the MacNamara days all I could shoot was a BB gun

Studied it a lot though (Vietnam). Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz are actually worse for my money

The missed opportunities would make you weep

We're still winning though.

All the best

Qatar-6

[af_vet_1981]

I disagree with Zinni on his position about the strategic timing of the war But I know his position is well considered and thoughtful. He's 40/60 against, I'm 60/40 for

He is publicly trashing the President during time of war. That either makes him a Democrat like Clark or he is shilling for Arab client states who he favors in the ME. Otherwise he would shut up.

[af_vet_1981]

I was amazed he took the Palestine job.

Exactly whose army do you serve in ?

[af_vet_1981]

Indeed, the NY Jews did a lot to put hillary in the US Senate. Now they will reap the whirlwind,

What are you blaming Jews for this time ? What percent of the NY voting population do you think they are ? Are you calling for more towers to come down in NY to punish them ?

[af_vet_1981]

We've come as far as we have IN SPITE of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and all the OSD crowd. Not because of them.

Without them Saddam Hussein would still rule Iraq and Zinni's favorite client states would be that much closer to WMDs.

[af_vet_1981]

We're still winning though.

In spite of Clark, Zinni, Scowcroft, and Clinton

[Qatar-6]

I don't think he's trashing the president

He's trashing Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and as a participant in both OEF and OIF I can tell you they deserve it

It must be nice to be so certain about everything

Out of curiousity, how much time have you spent in the Middle East?

Just wondering

Qatar-6

[Destro]

What do you expect from neocons since they came from the left? PS: Richard Perle is still a Democrat while being a neocon. Neocon meaning Jew is a new invention used by neocons to shut up paleocons.

[goldstategop]

Neoconservative Outed Alert! That's me and I backed the War even before it began. And of course every one knows my ethnic affiliation. For heaven's sake, can't General Zinni contribute something constructive to our involvement in Iraq besides the Jews' angle? Cause I've heard it all before.

[gatorbait]

Af, points well made , but qatar makes some good points as well. What I realized and and maybe you see it too , is which paper published this and whose by line.You know Ricks hates us and hates the President. NOW I wonder how much of Zinni's critiques are being edited for distribution.

Let's look at that as well.

Again,I do wish the general had not gone to these people.

[af_vet_1981]

I don't think he's trashing the president He sees both conflicts as beginning with deception by the U.S. government. "I think the American people were conned into this," he says.

According to Zinni (and I must assume you agree with him since you are publicly defending Zinni at President Bush's expense on this issue) President Bush conned the American people into removing Saddam Hussein from power. It's the Democrat line. It's the Saudi line. Zinni had close ties with the Arab states and was content for Saddam Hussein to remain in power for the rest of his natural life (despite an attempt on President Bush Sr's life).

Out of curiousity, how much time have you spent in the Middle East?

sakantu hunak qalilan wkuntu fialquwat ajjawiyah alamrikiah wanta ?

[af_vet_1981]

NOW I wonder how much of Zinni's critiques are being edited for distribution.

Zinni has taken the offensive against Bush. He is angry that Bush took out Hussein. Zinni was resonsible for containing Hussein.

But he saw no need to invade Iraq. "He was contained," he says of Saddam. " ... He had a deteriorated military. He wasn't a threat to the region."

[gatorbait]

Zinni has taken the offensive against Bush. He is angry that Bush took out Hussein. Zinni was resonsible for containing Hussein. So it would appear. Again,I have to wonder what prompted this action. Qatar-6 has posted some thoughts that make sense and we have noted his disagreement with Zinni's going public, particularly to a swine like Ricks. Anyway, the answer will be forthcoming.

[okie01]

"If you oppose neoconservative policy, you're a closet racist? C'mon, save the race card for the people without arguments."

You don't understand. It is the liberals who use the term "neocon" as a pejorative codeword. To them, it means "conservative Jew".

And, since liberals are never racist...

[Steve Eisenberg]

Read George Washington's Farewell Address. Read John Quincy Adams' 'Monsters to Destroy' speech. They encapsulate my foreign policy views. If that's 'leftist', well, whatever...

Since my wife and I are stay-at-home types on New Years Eve, I had a few minutes to check into these. Maybe too few.

John Qunicy Adams, in the Monsters to Destroy speech, effectively endorses all previous US foreign policy. Maybe this was just being politic. However, if sincere, he was endorsing the Tripolian Wars, in which we combatted piracy by going after, with our military, the North African state sponsors of this criminality. Imagine if instead of enslaving a few Americans on ships at sea, the Islamic pirates had been landing at New York, killing hundreds of American civilians, and then gone on to Washington DC and killed dozens of our soldiers. And imagine that the motive was political, as in 2001, rather than, as in 1801, criminal. Do you really see Washington or John Quincy Adams hesitating to go after Arab nations who trained the pirates and, for example, posted up three story tall Death to America signs in downtown Teheran? Now, it is true that the Federalists wouldn't have tried to turn Islamic states into republics. But they would certainly have agreed with President Bush on the need for a war against terror and pursued it with extreme vigor. And I think they would have found President Bush's plan to occupy for a few years and then turn over power to locals about right.

[Qatar-6]

Ana Aqid Il Jaysh Ameriki. Mustashar Il Haras Il Watiniyah Saudia.

Having said that, I've never been school trained. Your arabic is probably better than mine.

PSAB or Daharan?

Qatar-6

[af_vet_1981]

Replied privately

one other point

Instead I find all we did was trade cowardly dillitante amateurs for bellicose dillitante amateurs

Bush's amateurs are at least and at least confronting the regimes that intend to kill millions of us. I tend to appreciate that. I also appreciate your service to our country. Thank you and stay safe. You are entitled to your opinion. You've earned that right.

[af_vet_1981]

are at least and at least
are at least and at last

[Qatar-6]

Bush made the strategic decision to confront terrorism and to conduct Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. That decision was his alone.

He was probably advised to by OSD

I tend to believe that with Bush it was an exceptionally easy sell

The real point is that OSD micro management and bungling has cost us yardage bigtime

The military will get it done over there, but if they'd listened to us we'd be a lot farther along.

Dillitante amateurs, I stand by that statement.

All the best

Qatar-6