That was an excellent article and he did touch on all the big issues with this Iraq war.

This quote pretty much sums it up:

“Well, it starts at the top. If you're the secretary of defense and you're responsible for that. If you're responsible for that planning and that execution on the ground. If you've assumed responsibility for the other elements, non-military, non-security, political, economic, social and everything else, then you bear responsibility,” says Zinni. “Certainly those in your ranks that foisted this strategy on us that is flawed. Certainly they ought to be gone and replaced.”  

This is the heart of why people have a major issue with Bush and this war. It's not the bullshit about hating him or America or people on the left rooting for failure in Iraq, that the right wing media idiots keep spewing. It's exactly what Zinni says above. Bush has been horribly failed by his surrounding cast and he has taken no action to correct the situation. From declaring "Mission accomplished" from an aircraft carrier (a Rove stunt no doubt), to finding out about intelligence failures, all the way up to seeing their golden boy Ahmed Chalabi go down in flames...Bush has seen clear evidence that all of these folks Rummy, Wolfie, Cheney, Rove, Ashcroft, Rice, Perle, Scooter Libby...and on and on...have horribly led him and this country astray.

Bush is frozen though, he's done nothing as each new crisis appears. It's as if he's got his head in the sand. We are greeted with the most obscene generalities and cliches..."Stay the course", "We will be there until the mission is accomplished", "Can't shake our resolve"...all say nothing and it's totally intentional. All because he's playing politics and he (and Rove) fear taking any sort of steps in any direction because they think it will cost them the election.

So, they sit on their hands and Bush just gets up and says the same damn things again and again and tells us Rummy is "a great Secretary of Defense"...and the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate and people continue to die and the terrorists see more and more things that work in their favor.

Bush at least has an excuse for being so dishonest and doing nothing...he's trying to keep his job. If he does nothing, well, that's the safest path...taking action is too much of a risk for Bush. The people that disgust me the most are Republicans in the Senate and Congress that act as apologists for this administration just for the sake of supporting "their side"...while they know full well that this administration is a complete failure. They need to grow some balls and call a spade a spade. Bush and these neocons have turned the Republican party into a giant joke and I can't see why anyone that claims to be a Republican or Conservative would support them.

The greatest comedy I suppose comes from those in the media that cry "liberal media bias" every chance they get...ignoring the issues and trying to force an entire segment of our society to cover their ears and eyes to what's going on. We must be quiet to support the troops...speaking up is for those that support the terrorists...boy, if that crap doesn't have our founding fathers rolling over in their graves I don't know what would!

They go on trying to convince people that half of our elected officials and all of our media establishment (except them...the Coulter and Boortz and Rush types) get up and go to work each day because they are "filled with hate" and want to "bring down Bush" and of course "destroy America"...it's sad that anyone could actually believe this and buy into the fact that these people are working "with the terrorists"...that's crazier than any of Kent's best lizard stories.  (Sorry Kent but you know what I mean.)

I just find it sad that people actually try to blame the media for telling us what's gone wrong...rather than discussing what went wrong and what may be done to solve the problem.

So, now this Zinni stuff will be rapidly dismissed the following way:

1. CBS and 60 Minutes are the liberal media and we know they hate Bush.

2. Zinni is just making stuff up to sell his book.

3. CBS is owned or related in some way to whoever is publishing the Zinni book so they are just trying to make a buck too.

4. Zinni is an anti-Semite.

5. A sudden blast of weird rumors and innuendo about Zinni and his past that accuse him of any number of things from being completely insane, to a war criminal, to a guy that just wants a post in the Kerry administration, to being gay, cheating on his wife, have sexual relations with a goat, or having a black love child. Of course, they will start by saying all of the people he worked with never liked him and thought he was a egotistic, self centered, hypocritical, backstabbing, self promoting asshole...they only used that on everyone they've had to face from McCain to John Kerry.

Anyone that's had a long enough career has had moments they can twist and use to try and slander them. From throwing medals to getting within 100 yards of Jane Fonda to I don't know yelling at a secret service guy or maybe for Zinni slapping an enlisted man.

What's great is there are so many that buy into this stuff so quickly and form an opinion that then is immovable no matter what is said or explained. It's been so effective just reading or hearing Zinni say something critical of Bushco for a large segment of people lumps him in right away with all the others...he's just another Dick Clark...who cares what he knows or what he says...he's a hater who wants to bring down Bush and he's on the side of the terrorists...that's what I call brainwashing...