Generan Anthony Zinni om USAs Irak-strategi

Anthony Zinni är pensionerad general i den amerikanska marinkåren. Han har varit chef för USAs Mellanöstern kommando, och är mycket väl insatt i den politiska situationen i regionen.

Zinni har en mycket bra analys av hur Bush-administrationen har missbedömt situationen i Irak och hela Mellersta Östern.


..the first mistake that will be recorded in history, the belief that containment as a policy doesn't work. It certainly worked against the Soviet Union, has worked with North Korea and others....

The second mistake I think history will record is that the strategy was flawed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing about the benefits of this strategic move. That the road to Jerusalem led through Baghdad, when just the opposite is true, the road to Baghdad led through Jerusalem. You solve the Middle East peace process, you'd be surprised what kinds of others things will work out. ...

The third mistake, I think was one we repeated from Vietnam, we had to create a false rationale for going in to get public support. The books were cooked, in my mind. The intelligence was not there. I testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee one month before the war, and Senator Lugar asked me: "General Zinni, do you feel the threat from Saddam Hussein is imminent?" I said: "No, not at all. It was not an imminent threat. Not even close. Not grave, gathering, imminent, serious, severe, mildly upsetting, none of those."

... the rationale that we faced an imminent threat, or a serious threat, was ridiculous. Now, wherever history lays that, whether the intelligence was flawed or it was exaggerated, remains to be seen. I have my own opinions.


Hela general Zinnis analys är mycket bra och visar hur totalt onödigt kriget var och hur det nu hotar stabiliteten i mellanöstern.

För den som inte är bekant med hur Pentagon fungerar så kan tjänstgörande amerikanska officerare aldrig öppet kritisera den sittande regeringen utan att få sparken. De kan dock uppmuntra nyss pensionerade generaler att kritisiera, och det är detta som nu sker. Washington är fullt med rykten om en rasande strid mellan å ena sidan CIA och utrikesdepartementet och å den andra Rumsfeld, Pentagon, Bush och Cheney.

Zinniframträdde nyss i TV-programmet 60 minutes med en mycket skarp kritik mot Bush-regimensd Irakpolitik.