thedrifter
07-06-04, 07:38 AM
Issue Date: July 05, 2004
‘Speak your mind,’ Zinni advises
Retired general still draws crowds despite criticism of war, Bush camp
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — As far as published authors go, Tony Zinni drew modest crowds of autograph-seekers waiting to get their hands on his new book at two Marine Corps bases.
As far as retired generals go, Gen. Anthony C. Zinni joins the small group of maverick leathernecks who have raised eyebrows by criticizing government policy over the years.
Zinni’s target is the Bush administration’s cadre of neoconservatives he says zealously drew the United States — and his beloved Marine Corps — into a protracted counterinsurgency fight in Iraq. In his eyes, it’s the wrong reason to risk the lives of U.S. troops, the nation’s credibility in the volatile Middle East and its reputation as a world leader.
“In the lead-up to the war and its later conduct, I saw, at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption,” he wrote in “Battle Ready,” a new book, written with Tom Clancy and Tony Koltz, that he dedicated to the military’s enlisted men and women. “False rationales presented as justification; a flawed strategy; lack of planning; the unnecessary alienation of our allies; the underestimation of the task; the unnecessary distraction from real threats; and the unbearable strain dumped on our over-stretched military, all of these caused me to speak out.”
Perhaps anyone else uttering such sentiments would be ostracized from the power circles of retired officers and combat veterans. But this is Zinni, the intellectual and easygoing general who was wildly popular among Marines while commanding I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in the 1990s.
Visits by the retired four-star general, a decorated two-tour Vietnam veteran who was chief of U.S. Central Command when he retired in 2000, have furrowed the brows of base officials overseeing movements of thousands of Marines shipping out for or returning home from Iraq.
A mix of active and retired Marines and spouses attended the various events, where Zinni got plenty of applause from the troops. He also gave professional military education lectures to Marines and sailors.
“The chain of command has got to give you the freedom to speak your mind,” he said June 22 during a break from autographing books at the Marine Corps Association Bookstore at Camp Pendleton.
At Pendleton, the 60-year-old Zinni drew an audience of hundreds to listen to his remarks and ask questions at the base theater and scores of people who waited for him to autograph their books.
While leading U.S. Central Command, senior commanders “told us to speak our minds,” he said.
Zinni added he doesn’t see that obligation stopping because he retired.
Zinni draws not only admirers, but also critics who question his loyalty to the Corps. Some say he shouldn’t question administration policies or denounce the leadership. Others say he’s taking a tough anti-administration stance in an effort to position himself for a leadership role — perhaps as defense secretary — in a John Kerry-led White House.
But he sees his “mouthing off” as an obligation.
“There’s a tradition amongst Marines about worrying about the troops and the American people that makes us mouth off, and I hope you’re injected with the same thing,” he said at a Marine Corps Aviation Association dinner at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. “It’s painful, but it’s worth it. And it may be a form of patriotism that we ought to pay more attention to.”
Part of Zinni’s zealous defense of free speech comes from the silence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War and the insistence of former Defense Secretary William Cohen that his chiefs not repeat that.
Zinni says he sees himself keeping the Corps’ tradition of outspokenness, putting himself in the company of Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler and Gen. David M. Shoup, both Medal of Honor recipients.
Butler, a double Medal of Honor recipient and veteran of the “Banana Wars” in Central America who later hopped on the lecture circuit, penned a small book, “War is a Racket,” in the 1930s. Shoup, the 22nd commandant, went on to condemn the Vietnam War after his 1963 retirement.
Unlike Shoup, who ran for Congress, Zinni dismisses the notion that his criticism of administration policies indicates that he is politically motivated.
“I’ve been branded a liberal Democrat, because you criticize,” he told the Miramar crowd.
For now, he says, his focus remains on Iraq, where 40,000 Marines are beginning to turn over combat duty and the U.S. military braces for the June 30 transition to an interim Iraqi government amid continuing insurgent attacks.
“The worst is yet to come, if we are not careful,” he said, noting Iraq’s elections set for January.
“If they fail in this, there is no Plan B.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-3040629.php
Ellie
‘Speak your mind,’ Zinni advises
Retired general still draws crowds despite criticism of war, Bush camp
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — As far as published authors go, Tony Zinni drew modest crowds of autograph-seekers waiting to get their hands on his new book at two Marine Corps bases.
As far as retired generals go, Gen. Anthony C. Zinni joins the small group of maverick leathernecks who have raised eyebrows by criticizing government policy over the years.
Zinni’s target is the Bush administration’s cadre of neoconservatives he says zealously drew the United States — and his beloved Marine Corps — into a protracted counterinsurgency fight in Iraq. In his eyes, it’s the wrong reason to risk the lives of U.S. troops, the nation’s credibility in the volatile Middle East and its reputation as a world leader.
“In the lead-up to the war and its later conduct, I saw, at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption,” he wrote in “Battle Ready,” a new book, written with Tom Clancy and Tony Koltz, that he dedicated to the military’s enlisted men and women. “False rationales presented as justification; a flawed strategy; lack of planning; the unnecessary alienation of our allies; the underestimation of the task; the unnecessary distraction from real threats; and the unbearable strain dumped on our over-stretched military, all of these caused me to speak out.”
Perhaps anyone else uttering such sentiments would be ostracized from the power circles of retired officers and combat veterans. But this is Zinni, the intellectual and easygoing general who was wildly popular among Marines while commanding I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in the 1990s.
Visits by the retired four-star general, a decorated two-tour Vietnam veteran who was chief of U.S. Central Command when he retired in 2000, have furrowed the brows of base officials overseeing movements of thousands of Marines shipping out for or returning home from Iraq.
A mix of active and retired Marines and spouses attended the various events, where Zinni got plenty of applause from the troops. He also gave professional military education lectures to Marines and sailors.
“The chain of command has got to give you the freedom to speak your mind,” he said June 22 during a break from autographing books at the Marine Corps Association Bookstore at Camp Pendleton.
At Pendleton, the 60-year-old Zinni drew an audience of hundreds to listen to his remarks and ask questions at the base theater and scores of people who waited for him to autograph their books.
While leading U.S. Central Command, senior commanders “told us to speak our minds,” he said.
Zinni added he doesn’t see that obligation stopping because he retired.
Zinni draws not only admirers, but also critics who question his loyalty to the Corps. Some say he shouldn’t question administration policies or denounce the leadership. Others say he’s taking a tough anti-administration stance in an effort to position himself for a leadership role — perhaps as defense secretary — in a John Kerry-led White House.
But he sees his “mouthing off” as an obligation.
“There’s a tradition amongst Marines about worrying about the troops and the American people that makes us mouth off, and I hope you’re injected with the same thing,” he said at a Marine Corps Aviation Association dinner at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. “It’s painful, but it’s worth it. And it may be a form of patriotism that we ought to pay more attention to.”
Part of Zinni’s zealous defense of free speech comes from the silence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War and the insistence of former Defense Secretary William Cohen that his chiefs not repeat that.
Zinni says he sees himself keeping the Corps’ tradition of outspokenness, putting himself in the company of Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler and Gen. David M. Shoup, both Medal of Honor recipients.
Butler, a double Medal of Honor recipient and veteran of the “Banana Wars” in Central America who later hopped on the lecture circuit, penned a small book, “War is a Racket,” in the 1930s. Shoup, the 22nd commandant, went on to condemn the Vietnam War after his 1963 retirement.
Unlike Shoup, who ran for Congress, Zinni dismisses the notion that his criticism of administration policies indicates that he is politically motivated.
“I’ve been branded a liberal Democrat, because you criticize,” he told the Miramar crowd.
For now, he says, his focus remains on Iraq, where 40,000 Marines are beginning to turn over combat duty and the U.S. military braces for the June 30 transition to an interim Iraqi government amid continuing insurgent attacks.
“The worst is yet to come, if we are not careful,” he said, noting Iraq’s elections set for January.
“If they fail in this, there is no Plan B.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-3040629.php
Ellie