- - - the 40-year career of the now-retired Zinni, which includes two tours
in Vietnam, two years as an instructor at the Basic School in the U.S., and
his role as head of the U.S. Central Command. He also served in posts in
Okinawa, Vieques Island, Germany, Turkey, and Somalia.
Zinni reflects on the Vietnam War, saying, "Today we are seeing a stream of
apologetic books by the policymakers and military leaders of that era--as
though saying mea culpa enough will absolve them of the terrible
responsibility they bear."
On Operation Desert Storm, he says, "The only reason [that campaign] worked
was because we managed to go up against the only jerk on the planet who was
stupid enough to challenge us to refight World War II."
On the Iraq war, he insists, "False rationales presented as justification,
a flawed strategy, lack of planning, the unnecessary distraction from real
threats, and the unbearable strain dumped on our overstretched military,
all of these caused me to speak out." He warns that military conflict has
changed in the twenty-first century and we have been reluctant to recognize
it or to acknowledge it.
General Tony Zinni (ret.) was Commander in Chief of CENTCOM from 1997 to
2000, and from November 2002 to March 2003 he was Colin Powell's special
envoy to the Middle East. He has also led special missions to Turkey,
Pakistan, Kenya, Russia, Yemen, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other
nations -- a role he continues today. Among his many commands, he has
served as Head of the Special Operations and Terrorism Counteraction
Section of the Marines; Chief of Staff of the Marine Air-Ground Training
and Education Center at Quantico; Deputy Director of Operations, U.S.
European Command; Director of Operations, Somalia task force, 1992-1993;
Commander of the Combined Task Force protecting the withdrawal of UN forces
from Somalia, 1993; and Commanding General, 1 Marine Expeditionary Force.
He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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