Ex-Envoy (Gen. Zinni) Criticizes Bush's Postwar Policy

[Ilsa]

We need these professional soldiers blasting * and Rummy like this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27846-2003Sep4.html

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.

snip
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."

snip
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

[teryang]

1. Interesting response from the two military

...professional associations.

<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.>