Zinni Urges U.S. To Refocus on Mideast

Former U.S. Peace Envoy to the Middle East General Anthony Zinni argued that the United States’ war on terror has distracted from the more significant issue in the region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, before a crowded JFK Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School of Government last night.

Zinni said that only by banishing age-old disputes and embracing the future could any effective work be done in the Middle East.

“I don’t care who crapped on whose rock 3,000 years ago,” he said.

While emphasizing looking away from the past and toward the future, he said the death of Palestinian Authority Leader Yasir Arafat last month gives the U.S. government “a golden opportunity” to change the deteriorating view of its policies in the Middle East. He said that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent decision to withdraw from the Gaza region provides the U.S. another important opportunity: if Gaza could be portrayed as a model state, Zinni hypothesized, “it could create stability and prosperity for a large number of Palestinians.”

While Zinni focused on the need for peace between Israel and Palestine as the most pressing issue in the Middle East, he articulated 10 ways in which the U.S. can stabilize the region.

“What’s important in their minds is that we, the United States, stay engaged,” Zinni said. “Only we can mediate it, only we have the capacity and capability to see this problem through.”

Those living in the Middle East consider the Israeli-Palestinian struggle to be the region’s most pressing issue, Zinni said, and yet the United States continues to be distracted by the war on terrorism. He said that in contrast to past efforts, the U.S. has gone from fighting an enemy or an ideology to a tactic. To the delight of the audience, Zinni asked, “What if we declared war on frontal attacks or river crossings?”

He acknowledged that terrorists are a legitimate threat. But if the United States is to challenge terrorism effectively, he said, it must do so with a concerted campaign to change governmental and social customs in areas where terrorists remain unpoliced.

“It’s not only about drying up the financial resources,” Zinni said. “It’s more about changing the conditions that feed Osama bin Laden and other terrorist groups.”

Further efforts, Zinni mentioned, are mentioned to prevent separatist groups from joining Islamic extremists. He explained that preventive measures focused on stopping conflicts should precede combat, and the U.S. would benefit from curtailing terrorist growth rather than attacking it after it manifests itself.

“We saw what happened to Afghanistan after we walked away when the Soviet power was removed,” Zinni said. “We would normally say, ‘Who cares, and how does it effect us?’ Now we know these places can become sanctuaries or pits for the extremists to work, to allow them a free ride.”

Students in attendance said they appreciated Zinni’s ability to present an objective opinion on what is usually a heated issue.

“He really laid it out in an objective way so that people could identify for themselves what the problems were,” Eric Lesser ’07 said.