General Zinni Attack Bush Iraq Policy

[Jon Flanders <jonathan.flanders@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ex-Envoy Criticizes Bush's Postwar Policy 
by Thomas E. Ricks




A former U.S. commander for the Middle East who still consults for the
State Department yesterday blasted the Bush administration's handling of
postwar Iraq, saying it lacked a coherent strategy, a serious plan and
sufficient resources. 

"There is no strategy or mechanism for putting the pieces together,"
said retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, and so, he said, "we're in
danger of failing." 

In an impassioned speech to several hundred Marine and Navy officers and
others, 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?"

Zinni's comments were especially striking because he endorsed President
Bush in the 2000 campaign, shortly after retiring from active duty, and
serves as an adviser to the State Department on anti-terror initiatives
in Indonesia and the Philippines. He preceded Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks
as chief of the U.S. Central Command, the headquarters for U.S. military
operations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. 


"There is no strategy or mechanism for putting the pieces together,"
retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni said of the president's handling of
postwar Iraq.

This was not the first time he has broken with the administration. He
was publicly skeptical last winter of the decision to attack Iraq.

Underscoring how much his views have changed since 2000, 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.

He also questioned the Bush administration's decision in January to have
the Pentagon oversee postwar efforts in Iraq. "Why the hell would the
Department of Defense be the organization in our government that deals
with the reconstruction of Iraq?" he asked. "Doesn't make sense."

In addition, he criticized the administration for not working earlier
and harder to win a U.N. resolution that several nations have indicated
is a prerequisite to their contributing peacekeeping troops to help in
Iraq. "We certainly blew past the U.N.," he said. "Why, I don't know.
Now we're going back hat in hand."

Zinni's comments to the joint meeting in Arlington of the U.S. Naval
Institute and the Marine Corps Association, two professional groups for
officers, were greeted warmly by his audience, with prolonged applause
at the end. Some officers bought tapes and compact discs of the speech
to give to others. 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company 


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