Generla Zinni speaks out!

[Gimpy]

On the piss-poor planning for the current situation in Iraq!

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(CBS) Accusing top Pentagon officials of "dereliction of duty," retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni says staying the course in Iraq isn't a reasonable option.

"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," he tells CBS News Correspondent Steve Kroft in an interview to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, May 23, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

The current situation in Iraq was destined to happen, says Zinni, because planning for the war and its aftermath has been flawed all along.

"There has been poor strategic thinking in this...poor operational planning and execution on the ground," says Zinni, who served as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000.

Zinni blames the poor planning on the civilian policymakers in the administration, known as neo-conservatives, who saw the invasion as a way to stabilize the region and support Israel. He believes these people, who include Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense, have hijacked U.S. foreign policy.

"They promoted it and pushed [the war]... even to the point of creating their own intelligence to match their needs. Then they should bear the responsibility," Zinni tells Kroft.

In his upcoming book, "Battle Ready," written with Tom Clancy, Zinni writes of the poor planning in harsh terms. "In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw, at minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence and corruption," he writes.

Zinni explains to Kroft, "I think there was dereliction in insufficient forces being put on the ground and [in not] fully understanding the military dimensions of the plan."

He still believes the situation is salvageable if the United States can communicate more effectively with the Iraqi people and demonstrate a better image to them.

The enlistment of the U.N. and other countries to participate in the mission is also crucial, he says. Without these things, says Zinni, "We are going to be looking for quick exits. I don't believe we're there now, and I wouldn't want to see us fail here."

Also central to success in Iraq is more troops, from the United States and especially other countries, to control violence and patrol borders, he says.

Zinni feels that undertaking the war with the minimum of troops paved the way for the security problems the U.S. faces there now, the violence Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently admitted he hadn't anticipated.

"He should not have been surprised," says Zinni. "There were a number of people who before we even engaged in this conflict felt strongly that we underestimated...the scope of the problems we would have in [Iraq]."

The fact that no one in the administration has paid for the blunder irks Zinni. "But regardless of whose responsibility [it is]...it should be evident to everybody that they've screwed up, and whose heads are rolling on this?"

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Hopefully, they will "roll" in November!

[grunt66]

But that is General Zinni's opinion .

[exlrrp]

When I was in the Army I had to memorize a chain of command that ran all the way up to the president, including the Secretary of Defense.
When did they cut it off at the Pentagon?

[SuperScout]

Let's see, wasn't Zinni still on duty when the rousing success called the Somali Debacle was being conducted? And wasn't he still employed by the guvmint when the two US embassies were bombed in Africa? And what of the terrorist attacks in Yemen that also occured on his watch? And I believe that he was still drawing his paycheck while the hughly successful Bosnian operation was being conduced, yet during all these resounding military and diplomatic triumphs, he was amazingly silent.

Ok, so he's got a book to peddle, and he starts with CBS; why should anybody be surprised?

Zinni is a whining grandstander, and came very close to being relieved of command on at least two instances. Unlike his 4-star Army contemporary Wesley Clarke, Zinni was able to lower his profile long enough to retire with a little dignity. Had he another 6 months to go before his MRD, he would have been toast.

[Hardball]

Also, not mentioned in the original thread, Zinni stated that "the containment policy was working"... ????

Is this the same containment policy that was forcing US aircraft to evade and attack numerous SAM sites on a daily basis?

Is this the same containment policy that was forcing us to monitor and board every ship moving in the Gulf because SH was smuggling oil and other goodies thru Iranian waters?

Is this the same containment policy which forced us to buy into the UN "Oil-for-food" program, which initial estimates state between 10-40 BILLION dollars were skimmed off and paid to dozens of countries to go easy on Iraq? (Quote: "The largest financial scandal in world history)

If we can't manage a hundred miles of Mexico's border south of San Diego... where tons of crap, and millions of people cross right in our back yard, how on God's green earth could we "CONTAIN" Saddam's nation?

HB