--- "Adam C. Lipscomb" wrote: <snip> > And, in light of our recent discussions, this > fascinating and > thought-provoking interview with retired general > Anthony Zinni in Salon: > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/17/zinni/index.html > > Zinni... challenged their suggestion > that installing a > new Iraqi government will not be especially > difficult. "God help us," > he said, "if we think this transition will occur > easily." ' <snip> > I also noticed that Gen. Zinni shares Dr. Brin's > admiration for George Marshall. Heh.
>From Gen. Zinni's speech to the Middle East Institute: "The next point I made was that the street had to remain quiet. A short war helps that, but the mood is not good. Anti-Americanism, doubt about this war, concern about the damage that may happen, political issues, economic issues, social issues have all caused the street to become extremely volatile. I'm amazed at people that say that there is no street and that it won't react. I'm not sure which planet they live on, because it isn't the one that I travel. I've been out in the Middle East, and it is explosive; it is the worst I've ever seen it in over a dozen years of working in this area in some concentrated way. Almost anything could touch it off... "It's the onset of winter in Afghanistan. President Karzai faces a situation with massive refugee problems, major reconstruction problems, and tremendous political fragility in his ability to govern from Kabul. You'd better fix that one. The last time we went to help them, we left. We ended up with Mullah Omar and the Taliban. That is burned into the memories of the people in the region; they're going to be looking to us to see if we will stick this one out and stay with them until they get there. How many of these can you put on your plate? You can't have those fail where you want to see a turnaround... "Do you best work through those issues in confrontation or cooperation? I think you best work through them with cooperation. Our other commitments require that as the leader of the world now and the last empire standing, not one of conquest but one of influence that has attempted to be the beacon for the world and not to conquer the world, how do we best exert that influence? How do we reach that hand out? How do we muster the resources of the world, of others who look to us for leadership, to help in this region now? How do we cooperate with those in the region that want to see change and that want stability and reform? How do we do it in a way that minimizes friction instead of always resorting to what I spent thirty-nine years doing, which is resorting to the gun?" (This was a link from the Salon article Adam posted:) http://www.mideasti.org/html/zinnispeech.htm Regarding the mention of continuing unrest in Afghanistan (from an Oct. 7 article): http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30264&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN "The clashes follow Friday's attack on a US Special Forces helicopter northwest of the southern city of Kandahar. The attack caused slight damage to the helicopter and injured a crewman, who has been listed as stable at the US military hospital at Kandahar airport. About 40 US soldiers have been killed and over 300 wounded since the US military operations began late last year. "Such incidents are disturbing, and security experts believe that the warlords and their often-hostile militias remain a major hurdle in stabilising Afghanistan - despite having forced Al-Qaeda out of the country and dispersing their Taliban hosts. Sporadic clashes between various warring factions also block much-needed recovery and reconstruction work in the war-ravaged country." Debbi The Fat Lady Hasn't Sung Yet Maru __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
