That's what I meant.
The Times doesn't like to explain all the nuances, but there are two main strategies for getting rid of Saddam: (1) a sudden military coup that replaces him with a clone (known as the "silver bullet") and (2) some kind of widespread revolt against the regime.
Congressional yahoos and other backseat drivers are always talking about #2, funding various overt groups based in Jordan or northern Iraq. No one who's actually in charge (like CIA, NSC, State Dept.) actually takes this stuff seriously, though. General Zinni was reflecting this position -- chastising the Congressional yahoos on the impracticality of option #2.
But the executive really is trying to coordinate a coup, all covertly and hush-hush. However, to mollify the hawks in Congress and for PR purposes, the Administration publicly claims to be hard at work on #2. But they haven't even spent the money Congress authorized to fund the various opposition groups.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Henwood [SMTP:dhenwood at panix.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 1999 1:33 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: RE: Noam Chomksy on Kosovo (FWD)
>
> Seth Ackerman wrote:
>
> > Doug wrote about Saddam:
> >
> >> but it's clear the U.S. didn't want to depose him,
> >> only shorten his leash a bit.
> >>
> > [Seth Ackerman]
> >
> > Actually, they really do very much want to get rid of Saddam,
> >but they want to replace him with some clone from the military, or
> >perhaps a junta.
>
> Well, this is what I had in mind, along with Bush's decision to stop
> the
> war before marching on Baghdad (Eugene Genovese's main reservation in
> voting for Bush in '92, by the way).
>
> Doug
>
> ----
>
>
> New York Times - January 29, 1999
>
> U.S. General Warns of Dangers in Trying to Topple Iraqi
>
> By PHILIP SHENON
>
> The general who commands American forces in the Persian Gulf today
> openly
> questioned the Administration's new policy of supporting Iraqi
> opposition
> groups in the hope they will overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
>
> In blunt testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the
> Marine
> Corps commander, Gen. Anthony Zinni, said, ''I will be honest: I don't
> see
> an opposition group that has the viability to overthrow Saddam at this
> point.''
>
> General Zinni said the policy of supporting the dissidents, which was
> embraced by President Clinton late last year as a cornerstone of
> American
> policy in dealing with Iraq, ''would be very difficult, and I think if
> not
> done properly, could be very dangerous.''
>
> The general, who leads the United States Central Command, which
> directs
> American military forces throughout the Middle East, said that the
> Administration had identified about 90 Iraqi opposition groups but
> that
> ''they have little if any viability.'' He continued, ''Even if we had
> Saddam gone, we could end up with 15, 20 or 90 groups competing for
> power.''
>
> The general's open criticism drew expressions of alarm from elsewhere
> in
> the Administration, which has attempted to promote a unified front in
> its
> support for opposition groups that might topple the Iraqi Government.
>
> Even as General Zinni was testifying on Capitol Hill, Secretary of
> State
> Madeleine K. Albright jetted across the Middle East, trying to drum up
> support among Arab leaders for the new American strategy.
>
> Last week the Administration identified seven dissident groups that
> could
> be eligible for a share of $97 million in military aid allocated by
> Congress last year and approved by President Clinton. Also last week,
> the
> Administration named a veteran foreign service officer, Frank
> Ricciardone,
> as its special representative to the Iraqi opposition.
>
> Administration spokesmen did not directly criticize General Zinni.
> They
> insisted, however, that whatever the general's concerns over the
> policy,
> President Clinton remained committed to helping Iraqi opposition
> groups
> that seek to bring down Mr. Hussein.
>
> ''The Administration is determined to redouble its efforts to work
> closely
> with the members of the Iraqi opposition in order to promote regime
> change
> in Iraq,'' said James Foley, a State Department spokesman.
>
> ''The important point is that we have begun this effort,'' he said.
> ''We
> have accelerated our outreach with members of the Iraqi opposition,
> credible groups who have support inside Iraq and who can work, if they
> work
> together, towards hastening the advent of a democratic regime.''
>
> He said he would ''fully endorse General Zinni's conclusion that we
> believe
> that this is not going to be an easy or short-term effort.''
>
> General Zinni's criticism of Iraqi opposition groups is in fact widely
> shared within the Administration, although no other senior official
> has
> been willing to state that view so publicly since President Clinton,
> under
> pressure from Congress, signed the aid to dissidents into law last
> year.
>
> Most of the dissident groups are poorly organized. Western diplomats
> who
> have dealt with them say their leaders spend much more time feuding
> with
> one another than trying to unite behind a strategy to overthrow
> President
> Hussein.
> General Zinni, who oversaw relief efforts to the Kurdish minority in
> northern Iraq after they were attacked by the Iraqi Army in the weeks
> after
> the 1991 gulf war, suggested that there could be chaos -- not only in
> Iraq
> but among its oil-rich neighbors -- if rival Iraqi opposition parties
> overthrew President Hussein.
>
> ''The last thing we need is a disintegrated, fragmented Iraq,'' he
> said.
> ''Saddam should go. There's not a doubt in my mind. But it is possible
> to
> create a situation that could be worse. And that's my concern. These
> groups
> are very fragmented.''
>
> American support for the Iraqi opposition is part of what the
> Administration announced last year was its new two-step approach
> towards
> Iraq: in the long term, to seek the ouster of President Hussein
> through
> support for Iraqi dissidents; in the short term, to prevent him -- by
> force
> if necessary -- from threatening his neighbors.
>
> The Pentagon announced that force was necessary again today when two
> American warplanes dropped bombs on an antiaircraft artillery site in
> northern Iraq after observing firing from the site. Military spokesmen
> said
> the two F-15E's fighters returned safely to base after dropping two
> bombs
> on the site. There were no immediate reports on damage to the Iraqi
> installation.