CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The White House on Wednesday, August 28, 2002, shrugged off retired Marine general Anthony Zinni's warnings against war on Iraq and sidestepped questions on whether he talked his way out of future Middle East peace missions.

"It's important to have a healthy debate about this and we welcome the views from those who have a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to offer," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

The spokesman side stepped repeated questions on whether Zinni, who was picked for his Middle East job by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, had lessened his likelihood of being sent to the region in the future.

Zinni "has valuable expertise to offer on the Middle East," he said.

Those comments came after the retired general said in a speech in Tallahassee, Florida, at the Economic Club of Florida on Friday that using force to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would make unwanted enemies in the Middle East and stretch U.S. forces too thin, according to the Tampa Tribune newspaper.

The daily reported that Zinni said Washington should focus on ending violence between Israel and the Palestinians and on wiping out the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which has claimed responsibility for the September 11 terrorist strikes.

"We need to make sure the Taliban and al-Qaeda can't come back," the Tribune quoted the former military commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf as saying.

Zinni also warned that Iran posed a greater threat to Middle East stability than Iraq, and that war against Baghdad would cost dearly and make huge demands of a U.S. military that is "stretched too tight all over the world."

He also said action against Iraq, which is opposed by virtually every U.S. ally and Iraq's neighbors, would harm relations between Washington and nations in the region.

"We need to quit making enemies that we don't need to make enemies out of," the Tribune reported him as saying.

McClellan insisted that Bush "has made no decision" on whether to attack Iraq, and that the president "will continue to consult closely with Congress and our friends and allies as we move forward."

Zinni also targeted administration hawks including Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, contrasting their lack of military experience with that of skeptics like U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way," he said, "and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way."

The growing chorus of voices urging Bush to rethink any swift military action against Iraq includes Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser to Bush's father, former president George Bush and retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War.

The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner of Virginia, has called for more congressional inquiry into Bush's demand for "regime change" in Iraq.

Citing what he called a "crescendo" of debate and complaining about an “information gap” between Congress and the White House, Warner said the committee should hear from Rumsfeld to explain the need for military action. The House of Representatives was planning hearings of its own, reports news agencies.