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Posted on 05/26/2004 8:33:09 AM PDT by SJackson
Zinni: U.S. Viewed As "Modern Crusaders"
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"What's the difference between a faulty plan and strategy that's getting just as many troops killed?" Zinni wondered |
WASHINGTON , May 25 (IslamOnline.net) – Former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command Gen. Anthony Zinni cautioned Monday, May 24, that the "aggressive” U.S. intervention in Iraq and the Middle East prompted the people in the region to view the U.S. as "modern crusaders”and "modern colonial power".
In an exclusive interview with CBS’ "60 Minutes", Zinni heaped blame on the administration's "neo-conservatives”for tarnishing the image of the U.S. in the eyes of the Middle Easterners.
"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 this part of the world,”he said.
Zinni slammed senior Pentagon and administration officials for clumsy strategies in Iraq , saying it is high time for heads to roll after they "have screwed up".
"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,”added the four-star general, who broke ranks with the administration of George W. Bush over the Iraq war.
Zinni said he has been accused of being anti-Semitic for calling top Pentagon Jewish officials as "neo-conservatives”though "they describe themselves as neo-conservatives".
"I mean, you know, 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," he told CBS.
He continued: "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".
CBS said Zinni was hinting at 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 Libby.
It said that they pressed for the war on Iraq to stabilize American interests in the region and strengthen the position of Israel .
"I know what strategy they promoted. And openly. And for a number of years. And what they have convinced the president and the secretary to do. And I don't believe there is any serious political leader, military leader, diplomat in Washington that doesn't know where it came from,”said Zinni.
Heads Should Roll
Zinni also criticized top Pentagon officials for awkward strategies and dereliction of duty in war-torn Iraq , warning that the U.S. course in Iraq now is "headed over Niagara Falls ".
"If you charge me with the responsibility of taking this nation to war, if you charge me with implementing that policy with creating the strategy which convinces me to go to war, and I fail you, then I ought to go,”he told CBS.
"As best I could see, I saw a pickup team, very small, insufficient in the Pentagon with no detailed plans that walked onto the battlefield after the major fighting stopped and tried to work it out in the huddle -- in effect to create a seat-of-the-pants operation on reconstructing a country,”added the general who commanded the Centcom from 1997 to 2000.
Though he did not mention names, Zinni jibed at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has been at the center of harsh criticism after the scandal of Iraq prisoner abuse broke into public view last month.
"Well, it starts with at the top. If you're the secretary of defense and you're responsible for that. If you're responsible for that planning and that execution on the ground. If you've assumed responsibility for the other elements, non-military, non-security, political, economic, social and everything else, then you bear responsibility,”said Zinni.
"Certainly those in your ranks that foisted this strategy on us that is flawed. Certainly they ought to be gone and replaced."
Senior U.S. military officials hit out on May 10 at the Pentagon’s strategic and tactical blunders, calling for sacking their boss Rumsfeld and his top aides.
Rumsfeld also faced mounting pressure from U.S. Senators, Representatives and the press to step down, though he offered his "deepest apology" for the abuse scandal and took responsibility for the misconduct of his soldiers.
The American New Yorker magazine dropped a bombshell May 16, saying the torture of Iraqi prisoners was okayed by Rumsfeld.
Wrong War
General Zinni further told CBS that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time.
"I can't speak for all generals, certainly. But I know we felt that this situation was contained. Saddam was effectively contained. The no-fly, no-drive zones. The sanctions that were imposed on him."
He also hit out at the faulty pre-war intelligence about Iraq ’s alleged weapons of mass destruction that led to the current anarchy.
He said Rumsfeld should not have been now surprised at the stiff Iraqi resistance.
"There were a number of people, before we even engaged in this conflict, that felt strongly we were underestimating the problems and the scope of the problems we would have in there,”Zinni recalled.
"Not just generals, but others -- diplomats, those in the international community that understood the situation. Friends of ours in the region that were cautioning us to be careful out there. I think he should have known that."
Zinni also said that some Pentagon officials had the guts to create "their own intelligence to match their needs".
He was not the only former military leader with doubts about the invasion of Iraq .
Former General and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Centcom Commander Norman Schwarzkopf, former NATO Commander Wesley Clark, and former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki all voiced their reservations, CBS remarked.
Speak Up
Zinni, who now teaches international relations at the College of William and Mary, says he feels a responsibility to speak out voiced early concerns about the Vietnam war nearly 40 years ago.
"It is part of your duty. Look, there is one statement that bothers me more than anything else. And that's the idea that when the troops are in combat, everybody has to shut up. Imagine if we put troops in combat with a faulty rifle, and that rifle was malfunctioning, and troops were dying as a result,”he went on.
"I can't think anyone would allow that to happen, that would not speak up. Well, what's the difference between a faulty plan and strategy that's getting just as many troops killed? It’s leading down a path where we're not succeeding and accomplishing the missions we've set out to do."
His diatribe on the Pentagon is outlined in a new book about his career, called "Battle Ready".
In the book, Zinni writes: "In the lead up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility, at worse, lying, incompetence and corruption.”
More of the Mid Eastern take. If nothing else, they've won a propaganda victory.
General Zinni Says Heads Should Roll at Pentagon
By Sam Hamod
Al-Jazeerah, May 25, 2004
In a slashing criticism of the Bush White House and Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon leadership, General Zinni, former Commander of Central Command of U.S. Military, and Special Envoy to the Middle East in the Bush Administration until he resigned in disgust, said "Heads should roll at the Pentagon--Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith and those who foisted the Iraq war on the U.S. despite my objectioins and those of most U.S. Generals including, Schwartkopf, Skowcroft, Clark, Shinseki and others."
Speaking on 60 MINUTES,May 23, Zinni said, "The plan was wrong, it was the wrong war, the wrong place and the wrong time--with little or no planning." He stated that there were serious "derelections of duty," "criminal negligence," and poor planning that put U.S. forces in harm's way and left Iraq in chaos after the invasion. Further, he added that the Pentagon's man on the ground, Paul Bremer, had made "mistake after mistake after mistake."
General Zinni, a man respected for his candor, his intelligence and his ethics, now holds a professorship of International Relations at the College of William and Mary. His new book, BATTLE READY, written with Tom Clancy, puts forth more details of his criticism of the Pentagon and the military strategies or lack of professional strategies as developed by Rumsfeld, General Franks, Wolfowitz, Feith and Perle. He also questioned why the Pentagon set up its own "intelligence unit", bypassing other intelligence agencies. This internally controlled agency finally gave the Pentagon, the State Department and even the White House, false and misleading information about Iraq, WMD's and the threat level from Saddam Hussein.
Because of his criticism, some in the Pentagon have labeled him, "anti-semitic." As he pointed out on 60 MINUTES, "I don't know their ethnic background; I am talking about military and foreign policy,not anyone's ethnicity." "This shows how low these people will stoop to cover up their incompetence and guilt, to call me anti-semitic," said Zinni.
Zinni's forthright, position was also attacked by some politicos in the White House and elsewhere who said he should be "loyal" and not criticise the government during war time. Zinni retorted, "Suppose you went to war with a rifle that malfunctioned and got your soldiers killed, would you just keep your mouth shut and let your men be killed or would you speak up?" He went on to say, "We have a policy in this war that is worse than a malfunctioning rifle, and it is our American duty to speak up", just as General Shinseki has spoken up and as have others who worked in the CIA, Military Intelligence, Inspection of Iraq group and others.
As Zinni pointed out, all the generals who knew the situation in the Middle East had testified to the Congress and to the White House that "Saddam was contained with the no-fly, no-drive zones and by the embargoes; he was under control and was not a threat to anyone." He went on to say that we had a major problem after 9/11 with Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, then suddenly our focus was taken from that and diverted to Iraq. By attacking Iraq we lost our focus on terrorism. In addition, instead of our standing and assistance growing in the Middle East, it went kaput and is getting worse every day.
Though he did not mention it, at this time, over 80% of Iraqis want the U.S. out of their country and have lost trust in us and our rhetoric of "freedom and democracy." As many put it, "You are another Saddam."
Zinni made clear that unless heads roll, then these absurd and dangerous policies will continue, and America will suffer the consequences on a global scale; things will get worse, until such time that we will have to beat a hasty retreat from Iraq.
General Zinni's comments come at a time when there are scandals in the military for torture, poor training, incompetent command and constant lying to evade responsibility. Even the lies by General Kimmit in the last 48 hours denying that an Iraqi wedding party was attacked by US planes and helicopters have been shredded by evidence found by the Associated Press and others who have documentation with film and other evidence that a wedding was indeed taking place.
Add to this, and the destruction of mosques in Najaf which has infuriated Shi'a all over the world, and the shortages of supplies for American troops--all of these things, these failures, fly in the face of President Bush's comments that the war in Iraq is under control. Sadly, it now appears that major officers within the military and the Pentagon were complitous in the torture of prisoners at various prison camps in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the disaster is compounded. Then to top this off, the military is now trying to punish or demote those who came forth with the information detailing these torture and killing crimes in prisons under our control. Thus, it appears as if the outrage in the military and the Pentagon is not that American soldiers perpetrated the torture and other crimes, but that the material came out for the whole world to see.
The outrage at our behavior in Iraq has been condemned throughout the world. It even became so bad that senior commentator and conscience of America, Andy Rooney, speaking on the same 60 MINUTES program last night, said, "These men in the photos and whoever was in charge of them, and who allowed this to happen should be kicked out of America. A one year jail term is not enough for this type of crime--we all know that." Mr. Rooney's thoughts echo those of many of us who are aghast at the minor penalty given; we are also upset that the military is trying to punish a few minor players, when we all are aware by this time that Rumsfeld, John Yoo, Albert Gonzales, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Franks, Sanchez and Abizaid are the ones who really perpetrated these vile policies that have led us to this terrible impasse.
Zinni's comments and those of Andy Rooney at this time are most welcome; let us hope that other military and civilian leaders come forth with this same courage. We also hope that Senators Hatch, Congressman Duncan Hunter and others who want to cover up these disasters will refrain from their unpatriotic behavior, lest they, the White House, and the Pentagon find a way to sweep this under the carpet and allow America to lose more soldiers, kill more Iraqis and lose more prestige and what is left of America's moral standing in the world.
Sam Hamod writes regularly on the Middle East,Islam and world affairs; he is the former Editor of 3rd World News (Wash, DC); taught at Princeton, Michigan, Iowa and Howard;he may be reached at shamod@cox.net c sam hamod, may 24, 2004
And that's bad, because..... why?
His diatribe on the Pentagon is outlined in a new book about his career, called "Battle Ready".
That's why - a book deal.
STFU, Sir.
"Crusader" is OK with me. So is "benevolent imperialist."
Zinni being glowingly quoted by the supporters of Islamic extremists. "Aid and comfort", anyone?
Surely he includes all the Democrats, the Clintons, Kerry, Albright, most of Congress, and the UN in this assessment.
Ooops, almost forgot: the NYTIMES, currently trying to dissociated themselves from their own WMD reporting.
I wonder if he knows that both Kerry and Albright have Jewish roots? Wonder if it will jade his assessment of them. Might want to watch that.
If we were like real crusaders, we'd have Al-Sadr's head on pike outside Fallujah, and Saddam's would be adorning the Oval Office.
Iraqi Amputees Travel From Houston to White House (Must Read)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1142447/posts
Polls taken in Iraq have shown that a clear majority of Iraqis want Americans to leave as soon as possible. Iraqis think the U.S.-led coalition is doing more harm than good and view the American troops as occupiers, according to recent surveys.
But the Iraqis who met with Bush on Tuesday said the president is waging a war that will shape their futures in a positive way.
"This new hand of mine is like Iraq, with the help of generous Americans it gets better day by day," said Bassim Al Fadhly.
Al Fadhly and the others said the images they have seen on television of their country in the seven weeks they have been in America are misleading and incomplete. "Having lived my whole life in Iraq, I can tell you America is not getting the real picture. There are good things happening every day and no one is seeing them. And every bad thing is exaggerated."
TREASON ALERT!
Zinni ordered the USS Cole to refuel in Yemen instead of refueling underway, and gave a lot of advance notice to the Yemeni government (and, hence, to al-Qaeda). He then opposed any retaliation for the attack on the Cole, stating that it would annoy the Pakistanis.
He now is a director in a Pakistani telecommunications venture.
He got his golden parachute. All it cost was 17 American sailors.
Many others contributed to the threads that nailed down this story (too many to name here, but thanks also to CWOJackson).
That's ok... people in the US view the people in the middle east as religious lunatics that need to be controlled.
My guess,
A-Sell a book
B-Position himself to participate in a Kerry administration
C-Please his Pakistani employers
D-All of the above
Zinni the ninny will get more US soldiers killed with that Al Jazeera article than any miscalculations, real or imagined, that President Bush makes. Nice of him to demoralize the troops too, but then, they know the truth and probably know that he is the ass that we all think he is.
Zinni is the Islamofascist's friend.
Clock King wrote:
If we were like real crusaders, we'd have Al-Sadr's head on pike outside Fallujah, and Saddam's would be adorning the Oval Office.
The only ones I know that object to "Crusader" are mooselimbs and RATs..
sooo..
what's the problem?
As a former Marine officer I am disgusted by Zinni's conduct. I respect his service, but not his behavior. He is an embarrassment to the Corps.
Public Health: All 240 hospitals in Iraq and more than 1,200 clinics are open. More than $210 million (U.S.) was approved in 2003 for the Iraqi Ministry of Health for pharmaceutical supplies and equipment, basic health care services, medical equipment and power generators for hospitals. (Saddam's regime spent only $13 million for health care in 2002.) Public health spending is 26 times higher than the amount spent during Saddam's reign. Doctors' salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam. More than 90% of all Iraqi children now receive routine immunizations.
They'd cut his throat as soon as they found him.
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