Former CENTCOM commander, retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, has been a vocal and ubiquitous critic of the Operation Iraqi Freedom war plan.  One of his criticisms is based on his belief that Saddam was being effectively kept in his "box" by UN sanctions and coalition no—fly zone flights.  Okay then, let's look at some of the comments he made upon his leaving his CENTCOM post back in June 2000.

Noting that sanctions against Iraq were a necessity, Gen. Zinni felt that Saddam Hussein would threaten his neighbors if given a chance.

"If he is allowed to rebuild his military forces and weapons of mass destruction, we could repeat the same events we saw in 1990 with Desert Storm."

Zinni noted that since Dec. 1998, there had been nearly a 1000 no—fly zone violations.  So, even back then,Saddam was proving his proclivity to violate sanctions, that he could not be trusted & as the departing CENTCOM commander noted, he represented a potential military threat to the region.

Asked by a reporter what he'll be doing after retirement, the general said he would stay active and "be up to something constructive."  There are some of us who believe that his ongoing book promotion—war plan—Rumsfeld criticism campaign is anything but constructive.

John B. Dwyer    4 13 06