Gen. Zinni: 'They've Screwed Up'

It just keeps getting better and better.  

This is just one more nail in the neocon coofin.

(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.

Zinni goes on to slam Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense, saying that they hijacked U.S. foreign policy.

He also has a book coming out written with Tom Clancy called "Battle Ready", in which he slams the preparations for the war.

"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.

I really get a feeling this asshole administration has pissed off so many people there is just no way for them to make a comeback.

•  Why Does General Zinni Hate America?

  Another liberal flack. Where do they all come from?

  by easong on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:12:46 PM PDT

  •  Weeds

    Administration critics are propagating like weeds.

    by Unstable Isotope on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:26:01 PM PDT

  •  Friggin' liberal Jarheads...

    Those Marines are such bleeding hearts...

    by Bob Johnson on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:26:35 PM PDT

    •  yeah really Bob

      who'd have thought it, a liberal marine!!!!!

      I just think its a joy to see this administration being labeled as incompetent and unprepared  from so many quarters, after a while its going to sink into the conciousness of most of the voters.

      Its a beautiful thing!!!!!

      by mickey on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:35:09 PM PDT

      •  Except...

        ...these stupid monkeys are still running the country for the next 8 months, no matter what.  

        by BoulderDuck on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:38:41 PM PDT

        •  And that is awfully goddamned scary...

          Who knows how much more damage these idiots can do between now and next January?

          That's why we need folks like Zinni to call the out loudly and publicly.  The evidence continues to pile up that Bush is an incompetent dolt and that Rumsfeld, Cheney, Ashcroft and their flunkies are dangerous lunatics driving us off a cliff.

          by Bob Johnson on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:42:51 PM PDT

•  Zinni

  has been a critic for a while.  That's why he was removed as "special envoy" to Israel.

  by Unstable Isotope on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:25:02 PM PDT

  •  Right

    I think Zinni called the war a "brain fart."

    by Lois on Fri May 21, 2004 at 06:40:55 PM PDT

  •  Zinni was my first indication that

    patriots with cred were paying attention, last year.  Some may remember that Bush sent the then-recently-retired Marine commandant to Israel to gather data on the intifadeh and Israel's response to it - Zinni came back and apparently what he had to say didn't go down well at the WH. Nor did the WH response go down well with Zinni.

    Now it's General Hoar, also a top-level Marine, tearing these arrogant morons yet more orifices.  Why DO the Marines hate America?

    by wozzle on Fri May 21, 2004 at 07:39:17 PM PDT

•  Whoa!

  Wow, if they've lost Clancy then brother, they're in trouble. I'll be interested in this one...

  by MiklCraw4d on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:25:03 PM PDT

  •  Tom Clancy and the Marine Corps and Democrats...

    I guess just about everybody hates America!

    Seriously, when Tom Clancy writes a book condemning Bush's handling of the war, doesn't it look like the Dear Leader's base is eroding?

    Things like this honestly make me wonder if Bush will be on the ballot in November.  

    by BoulderDuck on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:37:13 PM PDT

    •  Really!

      I mean, nothing makes me scream left-wing reactionary hippie like Tom Clancy. Why does he hate America so? Why, Tom Clancy, why?!?

      by MiklCraw4d on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:46:25 PM PDT

  •  Aww, for goodness sakes

    Could we not have won over Tom "I'm a fucking misogynist hack" Clancy until AFTER Kerry kicked Bush's ass in the election?

    OK, OK, I know this isn't really strategic, and for the good of the whole world, we should take every last damn defector we can get, especially popular dudes like Clancy, but dammit, I would have LOVED to have seen that no talent hack who wasted 3 books worth of my time that I will never ever get back eat his words first...come to think of it, he should do that anyway, given that he was a huge Bush booster when he won in the first place...

    by tameszu on Fri May 21, 2004 at 09:40:32 PM PDT

•  When will people learn?

  How many credible critics of this administration have to come forward to expose the, at best, incompetence and, at worst, willful and deliberate destructiveness, for people to abandon their pride and ego.

  Also, when is the mainstream media really going to report this jerk in the White House in an accurate manner?

  by txlawgrl on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:59:42 PM PDT

•  Zinni a "Clinton General", they'll say

  
  In terms of how the right takes this, one thing the dKos community may not realize is how much the usually military-living right has nothing but contempt for Clinton-era generals.  The assumption is that anyone who got promoted under Bill Clinton had to be a feckless, immoral, wussy, America-hater at heart.  Especially those at the very top with somewhat political roles, like the CINCs (e.g., Zinni and Clark).

  You certainly see this among the unwashed masses at places like FreeRepublic.  The sentiment there seems to be that an general who was willing to serve under Clinton instead of resigning or fragging him or something must be incompetent and/or traitorous.

  Among the neocons, they too came in with a real contempt.  They thought there had been a real wussification of the military under Clinton, though they do blame Colin Powell for being an early source of that attitude.  Thus, the top generals were considered hopeless -- since Clinton had to be promoting the wrong guys, the guys at the top when Bush came in were thus worse than useless.  

  This also figures into Abu Gharaib.  Well before 9/11 the neocons had worried alot about this wussification and thought the military needed to be pushed to become casualty-acceptant bad-asses who were too busy insipriing fear in our enemies to listen to the hand-wringing of a bunch of JAG laywers.  

  by dburbach on Fri May 21, 2004 at 06:15:27 PM PDT

  •  freepers are just the fringe of the fringe

    There are a lot of conservatives out there, who did not like Clinton at all, who still won't buy that type of shit.  

    And Tom Clancy?  How did Clinton co-opt him?

    Eventually, this will start to seriously erode Bush's base.  He won't get 0 votes this november, but this sort of critique really hits him on his "strength."

    by BoulderDuck on Fri May 21, 2004 at 07:18:00 PM PDT

•  Zinni is a gay communist who loves abortion

  Don't believe anything he says. At least that is what the RNC Talking Points I just received say to repeat ad nauseum....

  by Volvo Liberal on Fri May 21, 2004 at 07:13:57 PM PDT

  •  Yeah, but it ain't just AZ,

    it's Hoar, Odom, Shinseki, Wesley Clark and a bunch of lower level folks who detest Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle, Wolfie and a few more of the fantasists.  Who'da thunk there were so many gay communist pro-choicers in the military stratosphere?

    by wozzle on Fri May 21, 2004 at 07:46:13 PM PDT