12-01-2003, 01:40 PM
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#30 (permalink)
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This vexes me. I am terribly vexed.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2245632.stm
Quote:
Zinni: Iraq war "unwise"
The Bush administration's special Mideast envoy, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, denounced the drive to war in Iraq last Saturday during an appearance in Florida. He did so with certainty and a touch of sardonic wit. Somehow, this front-page story hasn't yet penetrated the consciousness of the nation's great newspaper editors. But Zinni's speech at the Economic Club in Tallahassee (just down the street from Jeb's office) powerfully reaffirms the quiet dissent of Colin Powell, who appointed him. His tough remarks about the administration he is currently serving may also suggest that the Mideast envoy feels deep frustration over White House mishandling of Israeli-Palestinian issues. In short, he may be ready to quit.
Zinni made a direct reference to the secretary of state, along with retired generals Schwarzkopf and Scowcroft, and derided the armchair hawks who are promoting "pre-emptive" military action: "It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way, and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way." If I were Dick Cheney or Richard Perle or Paul Wolfowitz, I might have to take that personally.
Zinni isn't just any general, of course. In addition to his Marine résumé, he's also the former chief of the Army's Central Command, with responsibility for the Mideast region. The quotes in the Tampa Trib reflect a remarkably sensible outlook, but one that is wholly at odds with the president's "axis of evil" mind-set. According to the Trib reporter, he indicated that "more important than Iraq right now are 'the opportunities that exist for the United States to encourage a peaceful transition in Iran where young people are increasingly challenging the power of the Islamic theocracy.'"
[7:09 a.m. PDT, Aug. 27, 2002]
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http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20030404/1025897.asp
Quote:
"This is in fact the wrong war at the wrong time," the retired Marine general said Thursday night at Canisius College. Zinni was head of Central Command until Gen. Tommy Franks took over nearly three years ago.
We have to look for solutions that can come about without military action," Zinni said during the William H. Fitzpatrick Lecture at Canisius. "We're applying military action to places where it isn't necessary. I don't think the American people will stand for a series of wars like this."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...¬Found=true
Quote:
In an impassioned speech to several hundred Marine and Navy officers and others, [retired Marine Gen. Anthony C.] Zinni invoked the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and '70s. "My contemporaries, our feelings and sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice," said Zinni, who was severely wounded while serving as an infantry officer in that conflict. "I ask you, is it happening again?"
Underscoring how much his views have changed since 2000 [when he endorsed Bush], he implied that the Bush administration is now damaging the U.S. military in the way that Bush and Vice President Cheney during that campaign charged that the Clinton administration had done. "We can't go on breaking our military and doing things like we're doing now," he said.
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Well, there ya go. Theres some from Zinni, a much more important man than Campbell ever was.
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