Posted on 05/24/2004 7:23:03 PM PDT by SJackson
Senior Jewish Pentagon officials have come under attack from former special US envoy to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni, in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcasted Monday night.
Although Israelis remember Zinni as Secretary of State Colin Powell's would-be broker of an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, he served before that as commander-in-chief of the US Central Command from 1997 to 2000 and was in charge of all US troops in the Middle East.
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Zinni has recently become a major critic of the Bush administration's Iraqi war, specifically the Pentagon's failure to advise the President properly.
"There has been poor strategic thinking in this," Zinni said. "There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground. And to think that we are going to 'stay the course'; the course is headed over Niagara Falls. I think it's time to change course a little bit, or at least hold somebody responsible for putting you on this course. Because it's been a failure."
Zinni specifically aimed Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Former Defense Policy Board member Richard Perle, National Security Council member Eliot Abrams, and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby - a group of policymakers within the administration known as "the neo-conservatives" whom he claims saw the invasion of Iraq as a way to stabilize American interests in the region and strengthen the position of Israel.
"I think it's the worst kept secret in Washington. That everybody - everybody I talk to in Washington - has known and fully knows what their agenda was and what they were trying to do," says Zinni.
"Because I mentioned the neo-conservatives, who describe themselves as neo-conservatives, I was called anti-Semitic. I mean, it's unbelievable that that's the kind of personal attacks that are run when you criticize a strategy and those who propose it. I certainly didn't criticize who they were. I certainly don't know what their ethnic religious backgrounds are. And I'm not interested."
Zinni said he believed their strategy was to change the Middle East and bring it into the 21st century.
"All sounds very good, all very noble. The trouble is the way they saw to go about this is unilateral aggressive intervention by the United States - the take down of Iraq as a priority," Zinni added. "And what we have become now in the United States, how we're viewed in this region is not an entity that's promising positive change. We are now being viewed as the modern crusaders, as the modern colonial power in that part of the world."
Zinni said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz should accept responsibility for the Iraqi impasse and resign. "60 Minutes" said Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz had declined a request to respond to Zinni's remarks.
Several days ago, Senator Ernest Hollins accused President Bush of embarking on the Iraqi war to buy the Jewish vote. In a speech to the sentae last week, Hollins refused to retract his words and attacked the Jewish lobby AIPAC.
With Agencies
I KNOW you realy know what "neo-con" means....come on....if you do'tI will tell you...it has a very distinct definintion.
Do not believe that Wolfowitz is a self-described liberal Democrat.
General Tommy Franks....charged by President Bush to plan and execute the Iraq war go plan,..says this about Douglas Feith,
Franks:... "I have to deal with the f---ing stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day."
Douglas Feith What has the Pentagon's third man done wrong?... Everything.
That is a ridiculous comment. Was Goldwater an anti-Semite?
As may readily be ascertained, simply by observing the animals in their natural habitats: avowed anti-Semites on both the left and the right regularly do precisely that -- use "neo-con" as ineptly-cheeseclothed code phrase for "Da JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS -- !"
Open and unabashed anti-Semites rush to utilize such a phrase, with the metronomic regularity of clockwork toy soldiers. THEY, apparently, feel no especial shame in doing so; no need, then, to mince words when discussing same.
You've won me totally over to your side with those *brilliant* arguments.
Typical leftist paranoia. "Ashcroft and all the big, mean Republicans are gonna send us all to Gitmo for disagreeing with them, oh, boo-hoo-hoo."
Just wait until Hitlery gets in there... enjoy your emerging police state.
"HTTP Error. The source is not found."
Thank you. Wish I could say the same, of course.
... enjoy your emerging police state.
Yeah, yeah. Congrats on your award, Mr, Moore. :)
I don't like Zinni one little bit.
I agree the term NeoCon often insinuates Jewish.
I do not however agree that it ALWAYS means Jewish anymore than PaleoCon ALWAYS means anti-semite.
I think learned folks here know the differences.
I do enjoy seeing Zinni squirm over it even if perhaps unjustified in my view.
"Gen. Zinni, Sir, I hope you read this:<SARCASM> Sir, with all due respect, I believe you are a Jew-baiting slimeball.
I do hope you will look beyond your nose and see that most Christians in this country are more supportive of Israel's policies than most of our Jews.
It may behoove you to do an exposé on all those pesky Chistians in the Pentagon. That would be more fair and balanced.</SARCASM>
Respectfully submitted;
TSG Michael B. Fulstone, USAF(ret), former Marine, staunch Christian and dedicated Defender of IsraelAM YISRAEL CHAI!"
He's not. See
Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson Distinguished Service Award
"Indeed, when our national security was at stake, Scoop Jackson was above partisan politics. There are many of us, many I think in this room, who are proud to say, as I am, I am a "Scoop Jackson Republican." "
Zinni believes they are political ideologues who have hijacked American policy in Iraq.
I think it's the worst kept secret in Washington. That everybody - everybody I talk to in Washington has known and fully knows what their agenda was and what they were trying to do, says Zinni.
The article clearly states "Zinni is talking about [the following individuals] " -- all of whom just happen (it's a MIRACLE, I tell you! He oughtta be playin' the lottery!) well-known Washington Jews. It clearly states "Zinnie believes" that these You-Know-Whats are "neo-conservatives" Jews who are "hijacking" our foreign policy -- a page right out of the Protocols, without even a hint of blush or lipstick to tart it up properly.
Ziini, at no point, contests ANY of these interpretations of his words. NONE of 'em.
This story did your argument no good whatsoever. What on earth could you possibly have been thinking of in attempting to utilize it as rebuttal, for heaven's sake...???
The word -- as clearly, crushingly demonstrated (to your evident distress) -- has a widely-recognized meaning, on both the left AND the right. The fact that you (purportedly) wish to ascribe it an entirely new meaning, Humpty Dumpty-like, is interesting, in a low-key sort of way... but, in the final analysis, irrelevant to the real world discussion at hand.
And who's the bigot here?
Never ask questions when honest answers to same would only upset you, ultimately.
Yes. And anti-Christian.
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