Why was General Zinni denied high position in the State Department?

by on February 11, 2009 8
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The Times did this piece last week on the mysterious recision of Gen. Anthony Zinni's presumptive appointment to be Ambassador to Iraq. No substantive theory is offered by the Times of why Zinni, a great man, was denied this opportunity. Of course Philip Giraldi has said it's because of the Israel lobby objecting to Zinni's sense of fairness toward Arabs in the Middle East. In that connection, read this attack by an Israel-firster on Zinni for his criticism of the neocons, oh sorry, the Jewish neocons and the incineration of Iraq, nearly 5 years ago. That piece is titled, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zinni." So you don't have to read it. Too bad the Times cannot explore this angle. General Zinni, what do you say? Did faction play a role in this matter? (weissphilip@yahoo.com)
(thanks to Jeff Blankfort)

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Iraq, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Neocons, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics

{ 8 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Colin Murray says:
    February 11, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Philip Garibaldi: "…Clinton came under pressure from some major supporters in New York State who told her that the appointment was unacceptable to Israel because Zinni is perceived as “hostile” to the Jewish state."

    Is the final decision not President Obama's? Is he allowing Secretary Clinton a veto of ambassadorial appointments? Did these 'major supporters' threaten to withhold political contributions to the Democratic Party? One or both of them have put the interests of a foreign power before those of the United States. This sordid backroom sabotage is, at the very least, disgraceful.

  2. tod says:
    February 11, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    Israel trump voice is always a cell phone call away from Obama's ear. With Bush, Israel had to use a wall phone. Obama can just do what Israel asks slickly, while continuing his speech; he could even just text msg his compliance to his subordinate.

  3. Alice says:
    February 11, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    Zinni made himself well-known in Washington circles for his belief that the neocons who flim-flamed our country into war with Iraq were motivated by security for Israel at least as much as anything declared. Further, Zinni is a player in the long-stifled AIPAC spy trial case:

    http://www.forward.com/articles/secret-briefing-by-zinni-seen-as-key-in-aipac-duo/

    I sure hope Zinni is so annoyed by his treatment that he goes public. How old is he? How much does he have to lose at this point in his life?
    Hell he's a retired General, so his silence can't be bought by survival needs. One reason offered for giving him the boot was that he would be the second of two generals in such a position, which wouldn't look good–but he was subsequently offered ambassador to Saudi Arabia, so that excuse doesn't fly.

  4. Citizen says:
    February 11, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Chris Hill, Zinni's sudden replacement, doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know the complexities of the cultures in Iraq — which Zinni does! Zinni spent considerable time in Iraq, knows the language and the culture, and what’s going on there! Hill will have to learn all of that from the bottom up.

    Here’s what happened according to Laura Rozen :
    “Jones had called me before the inauguration and asked if I would be willing to serve as ambassador to Iraq or in one of the envoy jobs, on the Middle East peace process,” Zinni told Foreign Policy. “I
    said yes.”
    “Then two weeks ago, Jones called,” Zinni continued, “and said, ‘We talked to the secretary of state, and everybody would like to offer you the Iraq job.’ I said yes.
    “The [vice]* president called and congratulated me,” Zinni said.
    Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for a meeting last Monday night, Zinni said. He said he went to the meeting in her office at the State Department, where Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Williams Burns were also in attendance.
    “She thanks me, asked me my views on Iraq,” Zinni recalled. “She said to Burns and Steinberg, ‘We’ve got to move quickly, Crocker is leaving, we’ve got to get someone in there and get the paperwork done and hearings… Lots to do to get ready to go.”
    Such appointments are made as gifts or pay to play. That Zinni is so well qualified for that appointment would mean nothing in Chicago, where Obama learned the ropes. Further Zinni is principled. A principled, well qualified man for that job in that area, Iraq, so involving Israel?

    He waited about a week, as he was rushing around preparing to go. Nobody'd respond to his inquiries. Then he got the Nix call, sans explanation.

    Mmmmmmm.

  5. Citizen says:
    February 11, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Chris Hill, Zinni's sudden replacement, doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know the complexities of the cultures in Iraq — which Zinni does! Zinni spent considerable time in Iraq, knows the language and the culture, and what’s going on there! Hill will have to learn all of that from the bottom up.

    Here’s what happened according to Laura Rozen :
    “Jones had called me before the inauguration and asked if I would be willing to serve as ambassador to Iraq or in one of the envoy jobs, on the Middle East peace process,” Zinni told Foreign Policy. “I
    said yes.”
    “Then two weeks ago, Jones called,” Zinni continued, “and said, ‘We talked to the secretary of state, and everybody would like to offer you the Iraq job.’ I said yes.
    “The [vice]* president called and congratulated me,” Zinni said.
    Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for a meeting last Monday night, Zinni said. He said he went to the meeting in her office at the State Department, where Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Williams Burns were also in attendance.
    “She thanks me, asked me my views on Iraq,” Zinni recalled. “She said to Burns and Steinberg, ‘We’ve got to move quickly, Crocker is leaving, we’ve got to get someone in there and get the paperwork done and hearings… Lots to do to get ready to go.”
    Such appointments are made as gifts or pay to play. That Zinni is so well qualified for that appointment would mean nothing in Chicago, where Obama learned the ropes. Further Zinni is principled. A principled, well qualified man for that job in that area, Iraq, so involving Israel?

    He waited about a week, as he was rushing around preparing to go. Nobody'd respond to his inquiries. Then he got the Nix call, sans explanation.

    Mmmmmmm.

  6. Alice says:
    February 11, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Chris Hill, Zinni's sudden replacement, doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know the complexities of the cultures in Iraq — which Zinni does! Zinni spent considerable time in Iraq, knows the language and the culture, and what’s going on there! Hill will have to learn all of that from the bottom up.

    Here’s what happened according to Laura Rozen :
    “Jones had called me before the inauguration and asked if I would be willing to serve as ambassador to Iraq or in one of the envoy jobs, on the Middle East peace process,” Zinni told Foreign Policy. “I
    said yes.”
    “Then two weeks ago, Jones called,” Zinni continued, “and said, ‘We talked to the secretary of state, and everybody would like to offer you the Iraq job.’ I said yes.
    “The [vice]* president called and congratulated me,” Zinni said.
    Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for a meeting last Monday night, Zinni said. He said he went to the meeting in her office at the State Department, where Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Williams Burns were also in attendance.
    “She thanks me, asked me my views on Iraq,” Zinni recalled. “She said to Burns and Steinberg, ‘We’ve got to move quickly, Crocker is leaving, we’ve got to get someone in there and get the paperwork done and hearings… Lots to do to get ready to go.”
    Such appointments are made as gifts or pay to play. That Zinni is so well qualified for that appointment would mean nothing in Chicago, where Obama learned the ropes. Further Zinni is principled. A principled, well qualified man for that job in that area, Iraq, so involving Israel?

    He waited about a week, as he was rushing around preparing to go. Nobody'd respond to his inquiries. Then he got the Nix call, sans explanation.

    Mmmmmmm.

  7. chris berel says:
    February 11, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    No Tod, Barack uses the wall phone. He knows that assisting Israel is a mandate from the American people.

  8. DICKERSON3870 says:
    February 11, 2009 at 6:40 pm

    *EXCERPT FROM "Will Obama Break the Law for Israel's Sake?" by Grant Smith @ antiwar.com (02/11/09):
    Israel possesses an arsenal of at least 150 nuclear weapons. Why does Obama trot out the discredited policy of "strategic ambiguity" – in which Israeli and U.S. officials officially refuse to confirm or deny the existence Israeli nuclear weapons – at this early moment? For one reason alone: to break the law. The 1976 Symington Amendment prohibits most U.S. foreign aid to any country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside international safeguards. Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). If U.S. presidents complied with the Symington Amendment, they would not deliver yearly aid packages to Israel totaling billions of dollars. Presidents make-believe that Israeli nuclear weapons don't exist so Congress can legally continue shoveling the lion's share of the U.S. foreign aid budget to Israel.

    SOURCE – link to antiwar.com

    *MY CONTRIBUTION: Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis elaborated in Olmstead v. United States (1928): "In a government of law, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."

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