Not that they loathe the military or anything…
There may indeed have been good reasons for the Obama administration not to have nominate Zinni. Sources outside of the administration suggested among them: the fact that it had reportedly chosen another general, Karl Eikenberry, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, and worries about the optics of putting too military a face on American foreign policy; pressure from the Foreign Service to give the prominent diplomatic post to someone from their ranks; and possible concern, given how several recent cabinet nominations have run into trouble, about Zinni’s previous role as a top executive with defense contractor Dyncorp, which does hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business in Iraq.
But if those concerns influenced the administration’s decision, it is not effectively making such a case.
General Zinni unloads, via Discarded Lies
Comment by thor on 2/5 @ 8:34 pm #
An epic non-story story if I’ve ever read one.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 2/5 @ 8:35 pm #
Glad you think that Iraq is so in the plus column that our diplomatic representation there doesn’t matter.
Comment by Techie on 2/5 @ 8:37 pm #
Its almost as if he had no significant executive experience……….
Comment by B Moe on 2/5 @ 8:41 pm #
I expected a train wreck, but I thought it would at least pull away from the station first.
Comment by router on 2/5 @ 8:44 pm #
“An epic non-story story if I’ve ever read one.”
you didn’t like joe and valerie story?
Comment by happyfeet on 2/5 @ 8:45 pm #
Where’s Wesley anyway? Is he back on CNN? I never see that so I don’t know. They’re not letting poor Wesley play in any dirty socialist reindeer games either.
Comment by parsnip on 2/5 @ 8:58 pm #
Looks like Hillary’s already kicking ass over at State.
You go girl!
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 2/5 @ 9:00 pm #
Wonder if she’s said “Fire their asses” yet.
Comment by B Moe on 2/5 @ 9:07 pm #
Looks like Hillary’s already kicking ass over at State.
You think?
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.”
Hmmmm.
“It’s also reflective of the larger problem,” the Democratic foreign-policy hand said. “Number one, they are swamped with candidates. There are 20 candidates for every job. Everybody has friends who are promising things. And they have multiple power centers they have to negotiate. That gets ugly.
“[Former Council on Foreign Relations head] Les Gelb recently said, he has never seen an administration where political handlers veto so may things coming from below,” the Democratic foreign-policy hand continued. “You cannot get a dogcatcher through without” it being vetted by political operatives. Obama political campaign guru David Axelrod was said to have vetoed some recent administration job offers.
Sounds to me like nothing has changed since the campaign. I wonder if Hillary is worrying her pretty little head over it?
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/5 @ 9:08 pm #
The conductor had barely called “All aboard!” when Reality, accidentally switched on to the station spur, plowed into the train.
Comment by maggie katzen on 2/5 @ 9:08 pm #
Smart Power!
Comment by Techie on 2/5 @ 9:11 pm #
They’re not working hard, they’re working smart!
Comment by Bob Reed on 2/5 @ 9:24 pm #
I’m not surprise,
With this corrupt, conniving bunch it’s always more about appearances and dramatic flair than it could ever be about substance…
All that phonyness starts from the top…
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/5 @ 9:25 pm #
I think the word they’re looking for is “patronage”.
Comment by Techie on 2/5 @ 9:26 pm #
I think the word I keep coming back to is “Crony”.
Comment by Bob Reed on 2/5 @ 9:27 pm #
B-B-But, as Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, he served as the commanding general of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007…
A BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! STOOGE!1!11!eleventy
Comment by geoffb on 2/5 @ 10:49 pm #
All purpose line for all upcoming speeches explaining the failures.
“I’ve worked smarter than I’ve ever worked in my life but I just couldn’t manage to find a way to _____________!”
Comment by Joe on 2/5 @ 11:35 pm #
Where is Weasely Clark. I figure he would be all over this.
As for Zinni, (in the words of Capt. Ed) the wheels of the bus go thump, thump, thump. Enjoy the company.
Comment by Ryan Seacrest on 2/6 @ 12:34 am #
Barack needs to slow down, he is using up all his stumbles too early. Do you notice how the leftards aren’t quoting polls any more? Except dumbfucks like Snippy, and he’s very selective.
One mistake per day, Barack, that’s all we ask from your amateur show administration.
Comment by LTC John on 2/6 @ 8:02 am #
“Smart Power” indeed. Zinni found out that being one of the ‘300 advisors’ just wasn’t enough to actually do anything with afterwards.
Maybe he should have just whiffed a few tax payments.
Comment by TheGeezer on 2/6 @ 8:07 am #
A goofy administration like this, if Republican, would have caused head explosions at the NYT and Wapo, and the v’s over at The View would be apoplectic.
I had always thought Gotterdammerung would be dark, serious stuff. Does it usually begin with slapstick?
Comment by MarkD on 2/6 @ 8:44 am #
Those political generals never learn, do they? The term that comes to mind is fragged.
Civil servants is just another oxymoron. I am beginning to think of government as a professional football team. The objective is to enrich ones self. Winning is a means to that end, but individual rewards are more important. It’s full of free agents. Team loyalty is given lip service. Taking a stupid penalty that hurts the team doesn’t matter, as long as I make out OK.
Why isn’t TO in a cabinet position? I bet he pays his taxes.