ANTHONY ZINNI

I think a weakened, fragmented, chaotic Iraq, which could happen if this isn’t done carefully, is more dangerous in the long run than a contained Saddam is now.

You can't just answer everything with the application of force. By the time you have to apply force, there's already been a failure, and you're trying to pull your chestnuts out in the worst possible way

You have to give everybody another recourse as some means other than violence, no matter how distasteful it may be to have to deal with them and what they represent.

I think the Mogadishu effect, if I had to define it, is we need to be more careful where we decide to commit US forces, and for what reason, and to make a clear judgment as to what we can and can't do and whether it's in our interests, or we could afford the resources that it would take to make the situation right.

it's no longer sufficient just to be militarily proficient. You really need to understand dimensions beyond the military dimensions. You need to understand politics and economics. And you need to understand cultures. There aren't pure military operations anymore, as such. It's become very diluted. And you need to understand those other dimensions clearly

The media is like the terrain and weather. It is a fact; it's nothing you can change. You have to learn to deal with it. And it isn't bad or good, it's just there. I don't think we should put limits on the press, unless it's for security reasons or for reasons of risk in the case of an operation. We value freedom of the press. It's something we are fighting for. It's part of the constitutional rights that we swear our allegiance to. We just have to accept it and learn to deal with it in a right way, and give and take.

We find ourselves in places in the world where our interests require, maybe, limited application of force, involved in strange missions, missions difficult to define and state criteria and exit strategies. So it's much more difficult now. It's not that clear.

Yet, here we are, long and difficult years into that conflict," ... "we still have not created the state we promised them. On the contrary, our costly and valiant efforts have produced an outcome our government did not predict or intend-a failed state spinning out of control into anarchy and civil war.

We will pay for this [climate change] one way or another. We will pay to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions today and we'll have to take an enormous hit of some kind. Or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll. There is no way out of this that does not have real costs attached to it.

Somebody's screwed up, and it should be evident to everybody that somebody screwed up…. We should change course. The current course is taking us over Niagara Falls.

You have to give everybody another recourse as some means other than violence, no matter how distasteful it may be to have to deal with them and what they represent.

In the lead up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility, at worse, lying, incompetence and corruption.

I think that before you take on nation building in your mind's eye as to how it should be, you'd better have a clear understanding if this is doable and will work.

I think the Mogadishu effect, if I had to define it, is we need to be more careful where we decide to commit US forces, and for what reason, and to make a clear judgment as to what we can and can't do and whether it's in our interests, or we could afford the resources that it would take to make the situation right.

Containment worked. Look at Saddam – what did he have?... He didn’t threaten anyone in the region. He was contained. He was a pain in the ass, but he was contained. He had a deteriorated military. He wasn’t a threat to the region... We contained day-to-day, with fewer troops than go to work every day at the Pentagon

I think a weakened, fragmented, chaotic Iraq, which could happen if this isn’t done carefully, is more dangerous in the long run than a contained Saddam is now.

Somebody's screwed up, and it should be evident to everybody that somebody screwed up…. We should change course. The current course is taking us over Niagara Falls.

Don't think we've ever convinced the American people that it's not in our interest to be isolationists. Our tendency for the first century, maybe century-and-a-half of our existence was to be isolationists, to hide behind the two mighty oceans, to become self-sufficient, and to follow Washington's caution not to become involved in foreign entanglements and alliances.

It's important that the American society and the American military not get far apart…I think the people have to understand their military and make a clear decision as to what they want it to be

it's no longer sufficient just to be militarily proficient. You really need to understand dimensions beyond the military dimensions. You need to understand politics and economics. And you need to understand cultures. There aren't pure military operations anymore, as such. It's become very diluted. And you need to understand those other dimensions clearly

The media is like the terrain and weather. It is a fact; it's nothing you can change. You have to learn to deal with it. And it isn't bad or good, it's just there. I don't think we should put limits on the press, unless it's for security reasons or for reasons of risk in the case of an operation. We value freedom of the press. It's something we are fighting for. It's part of the constitutional rights that we swear our allegiance to. We just have to accept it and learn to deal with it in a right way, and give and take.

We find ourselves in places in the world where our interests require, maybe, limited application of force, involved in strange missions, missions difficult to define and state criteria and exit strategies. So it's much more difficult now. It's not that clear.

You can't just answer everything with the application of force. By the time you have to apply force, there's already been a failure, and you're trying to pull your chestnuts out in the worst possible way

At a minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence and corruption.

There are no weapons of mass destruction programs in Iraq. There may be some isolated weapons, though I doubt even that, but no programs as you and I would think of them.

If you guys don’t go through the enemy in six weeks, we’ll disown you. But then the hard work begins... We have lit a fuse, and we don’t know what’s at the other end- a nuke, a hand grenade, or a dud?

I think it's (Israeli pressure for invading Iraq) the worst kept secret in Washington, everybody I talked to in Washington has known and fully knows what their agenda was and what they were trying to do; because I mentioned the Neo-Conservatives who describe themselves as Neo-Conservatives, I was called, Anti-Semitic.

We will pay for this [climate change] one way or another. We will pay to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions today and we'll have to take an enormous hit of some kind. Or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll. There is no way out of this that does not have real costs attached to it.

Yet, here we are, long and difficult years into that conflict," ... "we still have not created the state we promised them. On the contrary, our costly and valiant efforts have produced an outcome our government did not predict or intend-a failed state spinning out of control into anarchy and civil war.

If you put two brigades on the ground right now with U.S. forces, they would push ISIS back into Syria in a heartbeat.

Service rivalry leads to service pride, which is good for building morale and esprit.

The United Nations offers international legitimacy in what we might do.