Posted on 04/18/2006 10:38:57 AM PDT by Carl/NewsMax
Former CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Anthony Zinni - who has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of his alleged incompetence in running the Iraq war - admitted six years ago that he made the disastrous decision to have the U.S.S. Cole use the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling, where the ship was blown up by al Qaeda terrorists.
Worse still, at least one report indicates that Gen. Zinni may have played a role in an August 1998 leak that tipped off Osama bin Laden to an impending U.S. cruise missile attack - allowing the top terrorist to escape.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in October 2000, a week after the Cole attack, the then-recently retired Zinni said: "I pass that buck on to nobody."
The Rumsfeld critic explained that he personally signed off on berthing the Cole in Yemen even though "their coast is a sieve for terrorists."
"The threat conditions in Aden were better than elsewhere," he insisted, citing risk assessments for Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
Gen. Zinni said that cutbacks in the size of the Navy's fleet during the Clinton years made it necessary to use regional ports for refueling, noting: "Ten years ago, we did all refueling at sea" using Navy oilers.
Still, prior to the Cole attack, there's no record that Gen. Zinni ever complained about Clinton era defense cuts.
In what may be an even more troubling development, a report indicates that the leading Rumsfeld critic may have inadvertently played a role in tipping off Osama bin Laden to an impending U.S. cruise missile attack two years before the Cole episode.
Two days after President Clinton ordered the attack on bin Laden's encampment in Khost Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported:
"Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper, quoting unidentified sources in London today, reported that Pakistan leaked to bin Laden news about an impending U.S. strike. The sources said the leak was aimed at limiting casualties, so that bin Laden would have less justification for a counterattack.
"A Pakistani government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of the U.S. Central Command, was in Peshawar the day before the attack to meet with Pakistani officials.
"Other Pakistani sources said Zinni came with a team of U.S. intelligence experts whose task was to pinpoint the camps and determine bin Laden's exact whereabouts."
Flav missed the sarcasm tag on your original post and started screaming about Posse Comitatus instead.
I was stickin' up for ya!
Flav missed the sarcasm tag on your original post and started screaming about Posse Comitatus instead.
I was stickin' up for ya!
Oh, my bad. Sorry. No harm intended. Forgive please? Tanks! :) RA
Worse still, at least one report indicates that Gen. Zinni may have played a role in an August 1998 leak that tipped off Osama bin Laden to an impending U.S. cruise missile attack - allowing the top terrorist to escape.
If he hadn't had the rank of General, most likely he would've been Court Martialed for Dereliction of Duty. Perhaps charges can still be brought against him.
I must have forgotten my own sarc tag but as usual I thought it was so over the top no one would be fooled. Have our troops picking up trash in Tehran to appease Amedine-jihad? Come'on GG.
My apologies. Although with some of the stuff I've seen lately on FR I must need that tag!
US Military called off the OBL strike BECAUSE a UAE prince was falcon hunting with OBL....we didn't tip off UAE about the strike.
This was a separate strike that actully went through. But Zinni is a bone-head for leaking it...another perfumed prince politico of the pentagon and not a real fighter. The same bone-heads tied the hands of military planners for the Iran hostage rescue...hands tied meant dead troops and failed mission.
As I recall, GEN Clarke had nothing to do with CENTCOM (Central Command) or CENTCOM missions (i.e. OBL strike decision making). Clarke was EUCOM (European Command) Commander during Clinton's reign. These are separate combatant commands in the US military structure.
Two peas in a pod though.
The Presidential Slacker would risk the wrath of Hillary, but was too scared to take any substitutive action on any of the number of terrorist attacks during his administration.
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