Retired four-star general Anthony C. Zinni spoke last night at the IOP on policy issues ranging from U.S. involvement in Iraq to climate change.

Retired four-star general Anthony C. Zinni said in an interview last night that Iraq policy will largely be determined by the situation on the ground and not by which party wins the White House in November.

“The situation in Iraq will dictate the actual policy,” Zinni said after his speech at the Institute of Politics (IOP). “There will not be much difference between a Democratic President or a Republican President once the new presidency begins. I believe that the next President will see American security interests in a different light once they’re in office.”

Zinni, a former peace envoy to the Middle East, has been a vocal critic of the war and did not support invading Iraq in 2003. He has been floated as a potential vice-presidential running-mate for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama, but he said following his speech that he has no plans to endorse Obama or any other presidential candidate.

Zinni commended General David H. Petreaus, the commanding general of the U.S. military in Iraq, for placing additional troops in strategic “hot-spots” as part of the military “surge” last year.

“I don’t think that the surge was a strategy, but a tactic,” said Zinni, a former commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command. “All along, I felt that we needed more troops, and the surge has definitely had a positive effect.”

He added that combined with the Shiite cease-fire and the Sunni Awakening Movement, the surge has had an “exponential effect.”

But despite the decrease in violence in Iraq, Zinni said the surge has not yet effected the political changes that its proponents had anticipated.

“The Maliki government hasn’t made the needed political reforms that were supposed to come with the surge,” Zinni said. “Political reconciliation has been slow in coming, and the surge is unsustainable, despite the desires of [Secretary of Defense Robert M.] Gates.”

Zinni also defended comments made by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who suggested that American troops may be in Iraq for 100 years.

“I don’t think he meant it literally,” Zinni said. “There will be a military-to-military relationship for a long time. We’re still in Europe 60 years [after World War II], which is how he meant it.”

Zinni’s public remarks at the IOP yesterday addressed a range of topics that included rebuilding America’s foreign relations, transforming the American military, and responding to global climate change.

He said that the U.S. has focused more attention in recent years on “failed states” because of the risk that they will become “sanctuaries for non-state entities.”

Zinni was also adamant about the need for the U.S. to address global climate change and noted potential security implications if global warming goes unchecked.

“I’m no tree-hugger, but I’m not stupid. I can see the glaciers melting,” Zinni said. “Will we need an Arctic Fleet to compete for resources there? Will new competition for resources elsewhere lead to genocide?”

Audience members said they were impressed with the breadth of Zinni’s knowledge.

“He has a good grasp of the world,” said Daniel G. West ’09, a midshipman in the Marines ROTC. “I liked his idea that we use soft and hard power to achieve foreign policy goals and that you can’t rely solely on a blunt tool like the military.”

Other attendees expressed their respect for Zinni’s open-minded view of American foreign policy.

“I was very heartened that someone who was so high in the military hierarchy did not see the military as the only solution,” said Frederick W. K. Brown, a graduate of Harvard Business School, who attended the speech.

—Staff writer Prateek Kumar can be reached at kumar@fas.harvard.edu.