...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Monday, May 24, 2004
      ( 12:25 PM )
 
Those Darn Generals

They just won't shut up. The interview on 60 Minutes last night with Gen. Zinni was good. Nothing new, but always good to hear from someone with that much of a reputation to back his words.

“There has been poor strategic thinking in this,” says Zinni. “There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground. And to think that we are going to ‘stay the course,’ 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. Because it's been a failure.”

[...]

Zinni says he blames the Pentagon for what happened. “I blame the civilian leadership of the Pentagon directly. Because if they were given the responsibility, and if this was their war, and by everything that I understand, they promoted it and pushed it - certain elements in there certainly - even to the point of creating their own intelligence to match their needs, then they should bear the responsibility,” he says.

“But regardless of whose responsibility I think it is, somebody has screwed up. And at this level and at this stage, it should be evident to everybody that they've screwed up. And whose heads are rolling on this? That's what bothers me most.”

Though Zinni placed the blame on the Pentagon officials, I have to say that the buck stopped with Bush. He is the one in charge, he made or allowed to be made decisions that have led us to where we are. Some of those decisions include keeping people in charge who have completely screwed up our country and the rest of the world. Not a good management style.

p.s. did anyone think it weird that Zinni co-authored his book that criticizes the Pentagon leadership with Tom Clancy? I thought Tom Clancy was totally gung-ho on stuff like pre-emptive wars. Strange.

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