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 hate to admit it (Ex Marine) but I suppose that zinni IS a clinton plant as directed by Gramsci:
...C. Gradual revolution through infiltration & subversion by revolutionaries
......1. Infiltrate the State: elective & appointed office; judgeships
......2. Infiltrate the military: enlist & subvert from within
......3. Infiltrate justice: undermine and discredit state constitutions
......4. Infiltrate education: professors & administrators
......5. Infiltrate & discredit religion: scoundrels as clergymen
......6. Register, then license, then confiscate all privately held weapons
"now he's selling out his nation."
Well, I assume by "his nation" you are referring to the US?
I had no idea. Bummer.
I am not Jewish.
Why do you think I would be welcome in Israel?
Confess, don't be boring.
Say yes, don't be dull.
A fact you're ignoring:
It's better to lose your skull cap than your skull (or your govalt!)
The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquistion (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!
Five bucks says you can't find one single printed Israeli policy or dictum stating that only Jews are welcome in that country.
If you will recall, he is not the only general who had reservations about Iraq. Are Schwarzkopf and Shinsheki anti-semites as well? I'll take the generals over the policy wonks anyday.
As for the accusations of him being a "clintonian perfume prince", it is my understanding that the Marine Corps was the *only* service branch that has successfully fought the feminization and lower standards that have been imposed on the other branches in the last 15 years.
Do a google search on what the generals were saying 2 years ago, and compare that to what the politicans were saying, and look who turned out to be right.
I agree. Hannity stomped all over Zinni.
You're kind of dumb to be a general, aren't you?
Zinni is not being referred to as anti-Semitic for "having reservations about Iraq."
Zinni is being referred to as anti-Semitic for singling out identifiably Jewish policymakers (Wolfowitz, Perle, etc.) as being part of a mysterious, shadowy cabal with ulterior motives -- "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. -- for arguing for the overthrow of an insane, murderous despot; and for utilizing the well-known code phrase "neo-con," while so doing.
Big difference, that.
So what? What does religion have to do with it? I really don't care, and I don't think he does either.
Actually CWO... he HAS been selling us out. (past tense)
It appears THAT aspect of his career is over.
Ten bucks says that only Jewish people qualify for moving assistance and state welfare program largesse!
... which, as even a five-year-old -- and, presumably, you yourself -- would know: is a far, cavernous cry from "not being WELCOME in Israel." Nice Iif inept) attempt at moving those goalposts.
After all, where would the Jewish people be if nobody hated them?
As several sad, transparent postings in this very thread render more than abundantly clear: that's really not something Jews have to worry about coming to an end any time soon, is it?
That's such flagrantly transparent crap, it scarcely merits rebuttal... but: re-read, please. Why do you suppose he [Zinni] specifically singled out JEWISH (*kaff*kaff*) "neo-cons" for condemnation, for instance, while ignoring such obviously major players as -- oh, say -- Condoleezza Rice?
Squeeze your eyes shut as tightly as you like. When you open them again: the elephant will still be squatting on your living room carpet.
He simply singled out those he believed were responsible for the policy. He might have mentioned Rice too, but perhaps it was edited out? Who knows?
And if he did mention Rice, I'm sure the same folks here would be calling him a racist.
And if he mentioned Bush or Cheney, the same folks would be accusing him of a "vendetta against the administration", etc.....
But like everyone else who is critical of this administration, something must be wrong with *them*. That's so Clintonian.
He might have mentioned Darth Vader, or Count Dracula, or The Big Bopper, too; perhaps those were edited out, as well? Golly moses... who knows, really...?!?
If the best you have to offer up, in paper-thin defense, is that "maybe mysterious forces, somewhere, edited out all non-Jewish names, leaving only the Jewish ones," for some weird, shadowy and unguessable purpose: No Sale.
And if he did mention Rice, I'm sure the same folks here would be calling him a racist.
Zinni has already provided more than ample reason to label him, with a fair degree of assurance, as a contemptible, opportunistic and mealy-mouthed bigot. He doesn't really need to shoot off any more of his own toes, at this point.
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