Talk:Anthony Zinni
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"enjoyed native desserts, including puppies and bananas"?!!!
It says he was born in 1947 and graduated college in 1965? is that right?RonMexico 12:22, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
- good catch on the bad birth date. corrected--Looper5920 12:33, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
"In a widely reported speech at a dinner in May 2004, he detailed 10 serious criticisms of the rationale and execution of the war, summarised below:" What follows are 9 criticisms.... is the 10th one not serious enough? --Sirkeg 21:41, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Saddam and AQ
User:RonCram added the following, among other things:
- Zinni also warned about a possible link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda: "Extremists like Osama bin Laden and his World Islamic Front network benefit from the global nature of communications that permits recruitment, fund raising, and direct connections to sub-elements worldwide . . . Terrorists are seeking more lethal weaponry to include: chemical, biological, radiological, and even nuclear components with which to perpetrate more sensational attacks . . . Three [Iraq, Iran and Sudan] of the seven recognized state-sponsors of terrorism are within this potentially volatile area, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for its harboring of Osama bin Laden."
I looked at the NewsMax.com article he found this quote in, and the author of the article indeed interprets this passage as a warning "of a potential collaboration between Osama bin Laden and Iraq." But the ellipses erase the context of what he is referring to when he says "this potentially volatile area" -- is that a geographic area? An area related to support of terrorism? To WMDs? It's very unclear. I think the statement that this warns of a possible link between Saddam and AQ overstates what is in the quote, which lumps Iraq with Iran and Sudan as state sponsors of terrorism rather than spelling out (or even hinting at) a link between OBL and any of those three countries. Perhaps Ron will show us the full speech by Zinni? I looked at the CR for that date and there was only a note that Zinni appeared, but no transcript of the speech. I looked at the blog this Newsmax article is based on and it appears that the sentences strung together in Ron's quote are actually separate bullet points and not necessarily parts of the same thought, as this selection makes it appear. I think it is incredibly misleading to claim this passage suggests a specific link between Saddam and Osama. At the very least, Ron should be able to show us the context for the quote that supports this interpretation?--csloat 00:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
- csloat, I thought the quotes were somewhat unclear but well worth inclusion. OBL and AQ have received help from Iraq, Sudan and Iran. We know this from many sources. Two years prior to Zinni's statement, Clinton bombed the al-Shifa plant in Sudan because it was involved in chemical weapons development with Iraq and al-Qaeda. This is the historical context from which Zinni makes his statement. While Zinni recognizes that Islamic terrorists get support from private citizens and do not rely solely on state-sponsors anymore, Zinni is also clearly aware that the efforts to gain WMD must rely on state-sponsors.
- Other Zinni quotes:
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- The Iraqi regime=s high regard for WMD and long-range missiles is our best indicator that a peaceful regime under Saddam Hussein is unlikely. (page 10)
- The Central Region remains a primary focus of extremist activities. Three (Iraq, Iran and Sudan) of the seven recognized state-sponsors of terrorism are within this potentially volatile area, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for its harboring of Usama bin Laden. (page 11)
- I remain deeply concerned that extremists may turn to WMD in an effort to make more sensational political statements and overcome improved U.S. defenses against conventional attack. There is evidence that some elements in our region are exploring rudimentary chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Detecting plans for a specific WMD attack is extremely difficult, making it likely such an event would occur without warning. (page 12)
- Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Arabian Gulf region. This is primarily due to its large conventional military force, pursuit of WMD, oppressive treatment of Iraqi citizens, refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), persistent threats to enforcement of the No Fly Zones (NFZ), and continued efforts to violate UN Security Council sanctions through oil smuggling. (page 17)
- Despite setbacks and problems, Iraq persists in its deliberate attempts to shoot down Coalition aircraft. Because of these attempts, we must continue to give our pilots the ability to respond effectively against these unprovoked attacks. (page 19)
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- I hope this is helpful. RonCram 14:48, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
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- Quite helpful, as it makes clear that Zinni never said anything to indicate that Iraq was potentially collaborating with al Qaeda. All he says is that Iraq is "within this potentially volatile area" of "the Central Region." Thanks for the context; can you provide a link to the full testimony?--csloat 18:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] More Troops?
Zinni's call for more troops is moot, there were no more troops. Odd he had such a wonderful plan without planning to have the troops in place. Rumsfeld, overtactfully in my opinion, repeats "You have to fight with the army you have." A prompt response was necesssary to fulfil the Islamic requirement for honor. Non-combat deaths increase with the number of troops. More troops increase Islamic resentment.
Reinstating the draft would have been politically impossible. Even if it were possible, it would have taken 6-12 months to train grunts and 2-5 years to train officers and NCOs. In other words we would be starting to invade today. Bush would have never been reelected, and the Albright/Carter wing of diplomacy would be duplicating Carter's Nobel-winning success in Palestine. Planning should have started with the WTC bombing in 1993, if not much sooner. Zinni is guilty of more fuzzy liberal thinking, just like the others. --Tobyw 14:08, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Link to Zinni's farewell speech
The external link to General Zinni's retirement speech (http://www.rcaca.org/News-Zinni.htm) is broken. (I guess the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association reorganised their website ...). I found a copy of the speech at http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7335, but that's a forum posting. Does anyone have a better link? Is it OK to link to the forum posting? Or should we just delete the link entirely? CWC(talk) 12:48, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
