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eISBN : 978-1-101-00228-5

Clancy, Tom, date.
Battle ready / Tom Clancy ; with Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz.
p. cm.
Includes index.

eISBN : 978-1-101-00228-5

1. Zinni, Anthony C. 2. Generals—United States—Biography. 3. United States.
Marine Corps—Biography. 4. United States—History, Military—20th century.
5. United States—History, Military—21st century. I. Zinni, Anthony C.
II. Koltz, Tony. III. Title.
VE25.Z56C
359.9’6’092—dc22
[B]

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Dedication

TO THE ENLISTED MEN AND WOMEN
OF
AMERICA’S ARMED FORCES

They are our children.
They are our nation’s greatest treasure.
They are our True Heroes.
They made four decades of service worth every second.
They granted me the greatest honor of my life—
the privilege of leading them.

—TONY ZINNI

Chapter One - DESERT FOX

Chapter One

DESERT FOX

THE TOMAHAWKS Were SPINNING up in their tubes.

It was November 12, 1998. U.S. Marine General Tony Zinni, the commander in chief of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), was standing in his command room overlooking the command center at CENTCOM’s Tampa, Florida, headquarters, leading the preparations for what promised to be the most devastating attack on Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

The spacious command center was fitted out with desks, phones, computers, maps, and large and small screens showing updates and the positions of aircraft and ships. In addition to the usual office-type furnishings, the windowed room had secure phones and video communications with Zinni’s superiors and his commanders in the field. It was Zinni’s battle position—the bridge of his ship.

At the end of the First Gulf War, Iraq had agreed to the UN-supervised destruction of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the programs to develop and build them. That agreement had been a lie. The Saddam Hussein regime had never intended to give up its WMD program, and for the next seven years it had conducted a running battle with UNSCOM, the UN inspection operation in Iraq, to protect its programs in any way possible . . . by hiding them, moving them around, lying, stonewalling, delay, and noncooperation.