[7thson]

Try him for treason!

[Nomorjer Kinov]

Thanks for the research Carl.

As the saying goes ...a short pencil is a lot better than a long memory.

Apparently too many of the whiners can be tripped by their own quotes. Thanks for doing the work the MSM refuses to do (to liberals).

[TexasCajun]

I thought Richard "Dick" Clarke make calls to the UAE, whose leaders were falcon hunting with OBL?

And now this general is found to have been sharing intel with Pakistanis on OBL's location?

Are these two different times?

[Ann Archy]

Carl....PASS THIS ON TO RUSH AND MICHAEL MEDVED AND SEAN AND TONY AND HUGH HEWITT!!!!!!! This is HUGE!!!.

[Frank_Discussion]

And the press is worried about the Plame nonsense?! We could have obliterated OBL long before 9-11, and this SOB has the gall to criticize Rummy?

Just D*MN!!!!

[Ann Archy]

Carl, Zinni is also anti-Israel....can you write about that fact also?? Thanks.

[TNdandelion]

I'm betting that Clinton ordered the leak because he didn't really want to go to the trouble (and face criticism) of actually getting Bin Laden...he just wanted to look like he was trying.

[Personal Responsibility]

What was it that I remember Zinni for other than being one of the newly-annointed Six Generals of Discontent.

He did something else, worked on the Israeli - Palestinian thing maybe? I just cannot recall.

[hedgetrimmer]

Rumsfeld Critic Zinni: USS Cole Blunder My Fault

Because of his political philosophy of using US sailors and soldiers as "citizen diplomats". It got us into trouble in Somalia as well.

***

The Cole was vulnerable for 3 reasons, it was a interdiction ship capturing oil smugglers from Iraq,

Yemen was an enemy port, but General Zinni had this incredibly stupid idea that our sailors are diplomats so sending them into the hands of the enemy is good diplomacy.

They were not allowed to defend themselves in port, no weapons were allowed on the quarterdeck. When the boat came at them, they could not respond because their firearms were locked up by orders of the Central command (diplomats don't need guns you know).

In other words, our foreign policy made the USS Cole a sitting duck. The bombing was an act of war perpetrated on sovereign US territory (a navy ship) and this fact was artfully dodged by the press and the government officials responsible for those dead sailors.

20 posted on 03/16/2004 7:12:59 AM PST by hedgetrimmer

[TexasCajun]

I'd love to see another story on "Operation Merlin"

In a hairbrained scheme that was personally approved by then-President Clinton, the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program.

You and your team do great work.

[robowombat]

Zinni, no stupid man whatever you may think of him had clearly grasped the big lesson of the Somalia Ranger debacle. After that unfortunate event the GO's on site all took responsibility for any downside. (Considering the tactically flawed nature of the operational plan that was well and good.) The real goal was to provide cover for the White House over signing up for a problematic operation such as UNOSOM II. The White House had transmitted the desired message to the field and in return for the truncated candor no heads rolled.

After the USS Cole incident our hero
"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 real reason for this dopey arrangement involving bunkering operations was a State Department feel good initiative for the US to show its positive feelings towards the Yemeni regime and pump a few bucks into Aden ports flat tired economy. Zinni steps up to the plate ans says 'Yep I screwed up.' Knowing full well the Slimemaster in Chief would smile upon him.

[manwiththehands]

Oops!

[RetiredArmy]

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.

Yet another reason to elect a socialist democrat. We could elect another Klinton and downsize the entire military force, decommission all our ships, mothball all our tanks and planes, and put the troops to working in national parks and city parks picking up trash and cutting grass and weeds. This would be PERFECT!!! /sarcasm on and hot!

[george76]

"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..."

Nice.../s

[upchuck]

... where the ship was blown up by al Qaeda terrorists.

I guess that depends on your definition of "blown up."

Did it sink, like the ships at Pearl Harbor, as a result of being blown up?

[OldFriend]

OMG

[Velveeta]

Bump

[bondjamesbond]

Back during the Clinton years, the deal was to "take responsibility" for screw ups, but no penalty would ever be applied. It was all window-dressing for the Evening News.

Remember Janet Reno "taking responsibility" for the Waco debacle? Did she ever pay a price for that? In fact, she was hailed as a hero for being so forthright. Who cares if she burned all those kids to death? She came up with the right soundbite by the 5:30 deadline, so she was a hero!

[bill1952]

Thousands and thoudands of ex Generals in civis.

A few are bitching. Such is life. Zunni is nobody anyway.

What book is he writing?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Zinni fell on his sword during his testimony for Slick Willie over the Cole but the question remains why didn't Zinnis' successor at CENTCOM, Tommy Franks, change the policy and ROEs in the three months that ensued after Zinni left CENTCOM in July and the Cole was attacked in October.