Foreign Policy: Zinni appointment fracas: what went wrong?

A day after retired Gen. Anthony Zinni publicly voiced his frustration at the handling of what he thought was an impending appointment to become the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq, several Democratic insiders close to the Obama foreign-policy team told The Cable that they consider the Zinni affair a case study in a troubled hiring system.

"The appointment process is a disaster," said a Washington Democratic foreign-policy hand. Zinni's experience "is a reminder of how fragile the [new setup] is. There should be a level of anxiety that a senior public servant shouldn't be treated this way." ...

But what really happened to Zinni remains something of a mystery. ...

There may indeed have been good reasons for the Obama administration not to have nominate Zinni. Sources outside of the administration suggested among them: the fact that it had reportedly chosen another general, Karl Eikenberry, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, and worries about the optics of putting too military a face on American foreign policy; pressure from the Foreign Service to give the prominent diplomatic post to someone from their ranks; and possible concern, given how several recent cabinet nominations have run into trouble, about Zinni's previous role as a top executive with defense contractor Dyncorp, which does hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business in Iraq.

But if those concerns influenced the administration's decision, it is not effectively making such a case. [...]

In its brief comments on the matter, the Obama White House has sought to control damage from Zinni's frank comments and smooth over any bruised feelings. ...

But it has offered very few explanations for its appointments process -- seeking, it seems, to keep the national security decision-making process a mysterious black box. ...

Update: More from Politico's Ben Smith:

Obama's senior aides defend the foreign policy transition, which they point out is taking place amid two wars and a climate of crisis. Obama has filled top jobs with unprecedented speed. The transition occurred without—as had been feared—any foreign attempt to take advantage of an interregnum. The actual choices to fill the most senior positions—Secretaries Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor James Jones, Special Envoys George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke—are large figures who have drawn loud bipartisan acclaim, and Obama sent an envoy to the Middle East with unexpected speed, and is deep into consideration of a new policy in Afghanistan.

Yet on the lower levels of the transition, many among the army of Democratic foreign policy hands who labored for Obama's campaign say they have heard little since election day. Lawrence Korb, a top Reagan Defense Department official and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who headed Obama's defense policy team during the campaign, sent his aides a memo soon after the election.

"I said, 'These are the people who really work and they should be involved in the transition and the administration,'" he recalled. "I never heard anything and neither did they."

"I don't know who's doing what, who's in charge," Korb said.

The New York Times:

When the vice president, the secretary of state and the national security adviser all say you have been tapped to be the next United States ambassador to Iraq, odds are it’s a done deal, right?

Apparently not in the Obama administration.

Update: Fellow former Marine Col. Jack Holly USMC (RET), writes:

Having read your excellent article and the comments following, one significant point has been missed by the comment makers. Jones and Zinni are Marines, we are a special breed of the same cloth and that relationship is one that every Marine on every battlefield has created. As such it rests solely on the Back of Gen Jones to have had the "Marine" courtesy to let Zinni know of the changes that were occuring. Because a change of heart had occurred is not the issue. What set Zinni off was Jones' silence. Not acceptable among Marines, good news or Bad, Marines take care of their fellow Marines.

Posted with permission.

Posted by Laura at February 5, 2009 10:02 PM