1. Anthony Charles Zinni was born on September 17,1943 and is a retired United States Marine Corps general and a former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command.
42 Facts About Anthony Zinni
1. 2.
Anthony Zinni later served as an instructor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, a public speaker, and an author of best-selling books on his military career and foreign affairs, including Battle for Peace.
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Anthony Zinni serves or has served on the advisory boards of a number of companies, including the security testing firm, Mu Dynamics, based in Sunnyvale, California.
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Anthony Zinni joined Duke University's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in spring 2008 as the Sanford Distinguished Lecturer in Residence and taught a new course in the Hart Leadership Program.
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Anthony Zinni serves on the board of directors for Caliburn International, a military contracting conglomerate that includes operations for Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children.
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Anthony Zinni has been credited for foresight in predicting the dangers of terrorism coming out of Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks of 2001, and for supporting the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.
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Anthony Zinni was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and raised in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the son of Lilla, a seamstress and homemaker, and Antonio Anthony Zinni, a chauffeur.
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Anthony Zinni's father was drafted into the US Army shortly after immigrating and served in World War I, being promoted to corporal and later receiving citizenship.
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Anthony Zinni graduated from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1978 and the National War College in 1984.
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Anthony Zinni attended the John F Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in 1967 and the Amphibious Warfare School in 1970.
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In 2023, Anthony Zinni was awarded an honorary degree from Salve Regina University.
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Anthony Zinni served as a company commander in the 1st Infantry Training Regiment during this tour.
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In 1967, Anthony Zinni was assigned as an infantry battalion advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps.
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In 1971, Anthony Zinni returned to the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as a company commander in the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Aide de Camp to the Commanding General, and Officer in Charge of the Infantry Training Center.
15.
Anthony Zinni again served in the 2nd Marine Division in 1978, as the Operations Officer of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, Executive Officer of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Executive Officer of the 8th Marine Regiment and Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines.
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Anthony Zinni was next assigned to the Operations Division at Headquarters, US Marine Corps where he served as the Head of the Special Operations and Terrorism Counteraction Section and as the Head, Marine Air-Ground Task Force Concepts and Capabilities Branch.
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From 1987 to 1989, Anthony Zinni served on Okinawa as the regimental commander of the 9th Marine Regiment and the Commanding Officer of the 35th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was twice deployed to the Philippines to conduct emergency security operations and disaster relief operations.
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Anthony Zinni served as the Military Coordinator for Operation Provide Hope, the relief effort for the former Soviet Union.
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Anthony Zinni was assigned as the Deputy Commanding General, US Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia, from 1992 to 1994.
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From September 1996 until August 1997, Anthony Zinni served as the Deputy Commander in Chief, United States Central Command.
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Anthony Zinni organized Operation Desert Fox, a series of airstrikes against Iraq during December 1998, with the stated purpose of degrading Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.
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From 2001 to 2003, Anthony Zinni served as a special envoy for the US to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
23.
Anthony Zinni resigned from his position as an envoy in January 2019, for he thought he could not resolve the dispute.
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Anthony Zinni served on the CNA Military Advisory Board,[8] the first group of retired generals and admirals to examine the national security implications of climate change.
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General Anthony Zinni was one of the first leaders to appreciate the link between climate change, migration, terrorism, and instability.
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Zinni's son, Anthony Zinni, serves in the Marine Corps and was promoted to the rank of major effective September 1,2010.
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Anthony Zinni holds positions on several boards of directors of major US corporations.
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Anthony Zinni has worked as Chairman of the Board of the Middle East Institute, with the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and the Henry Dunant Centre for humanitarian dialogue in Geneva.
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Anthony Zinni is a Distinguished Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Anthony Zinni was the Executive Vice President for Dyncorp International from July 18,2007, to the end of 2008.
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Anthony Zinni served on the Board of Directors of DynCorp International prior to that position.
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Anthony Zinni serves or has served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the US Constitution.
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Anthony Zinni has been named honorary chairman of that institution.
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In 2004, Zinni was named in an investigative report by Diana B Henriques of The New York Times as being among the "retired or former military people" recruited to the corporate boards and sales forces of investment firms engaged in deceptive marketing of financial instruments aimed at military veterans in order to lend them credibility.
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In 2006, Anthony Zinni argued that more troops were needed in Iraq in the context of preventing the then-budding civil war.
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General Anthony Zinni is a "Distinguished Military Fellow" for the Center for Defense Information, a part of the World Security Institute.
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In 2009, Anthony Zinni reported that he had been offered and accepted the post of United States Ambassador to Iraq for the Barack Obama administration, but that the appointment had been subsequently withdrawn without explanation.
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General Anthony Zinni serves or has served on the board of Kaseman which has teamed up with Blackwater to pursue security work for the State Department.
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Since 2011, Anthony Zinni is a member of the board of the Peace Research Endowment.
40.
Anthony Zinni says his decision to endorse President George W Bush in 2000 was a mistake, and in 2003, indicated that he plans to avoid politics in the future.
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However, on March 3,2006, Zinni joined fellow former United States Marines General Joseph P Hoar, Lt.
42.
Anthony Zinni had been floated as a possible vice presidential running mate of Barack Obama, in 2008.