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Zinni calls on Obama to Release "National Strategy Report" and for US "Smart Power" Functions to be Organized in a New Military Command

Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Friday, Sep 04 2009, 11:41AM

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This is an eight minute exchange with retired 4-star General and former CENTCOM Commander and Israel/Palestine presidential envoy Anthony Zinni. It's well worth watching.

Among the interesting zingers offered by General Zinni, he suggests (1) that the Obama administration needs to issue its "National Security Strategy" which by law it is supposed to do within 150 days of the administration; (2) that the "smart power" functions of our global security agenda would be better served by taking the 'civil affairs' functions out of the military units in which they operate and stand them up as a separate and distinct Pentagon command -- which would coordinate with the State Department and US AID; and (3) that the envoy process is disruptive, distracting, and usually disappointing.

Zinni's proposals are provocative and substantive. I have asked someone at the Department of State about possibly responding. Hopefully this will happen in the near term.

Anthony Zinni, Chairman of the Board of BAE Systems, is author of Leading the Charge: Leadership Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom.

-- Steve Clemons

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Reader Comments (4) - post a comment

Posted by ..., Sep 04 2009, 12:05PM - Link

and in other "military news"

a NATO air strike in the north blew up two fuel trucks Friday morning, causing a fiery explosion that killed up to 90 people, many of them civilians..

great promo..

Posted by Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi, Sep 04 2009, 1:08PM - Link

If the former general zinni is of the view that the Obama administration should manage a clear mechanism for the adoption of new administration's stand regarding the US smart power doctrine,I positively and fervently hope that the current US administration should have have no let and confusion to do that in so far as the positive intentions of President Obama need no explanation.

Posted by JohnH, Sep 04 2009, 2:54PM - Link

Of course, General Zinni, now COB of BAE, would recommend that the military take over more strategic planning of foreign policy. Any conflicts of interest there? Any more consulting business for BAE?
http://baesystems.com/ProductsServices/bae_prod_cs_tss_consulting_cos.html

Zinni could serve as the poster boy for the entwined interests of the military/energy security complex that has completely corrupted any attempt at a rational foreign policy.

American foreign policy--the best foreign policy money can buy!

Posted by Charlie Chuck, Sep 05 2009, 5:53PM - Link

Ex-General Anthony Zinni, now head of Murder Inc (aka BAE Systems).

Wanker.