Very interesting interview with Tommy Franks

[dude1394]

Too long to post all but I have posted a few interesting clips. There rest is here

Did you take away from an effort in Afghanistan and terrorism in order to do Iraq?

From the military perspective, no, absolutely not, because we decided we would not do that and we didn't. On the day we entered Iraq, I think we had about 9,500 American troops in Afghanistan. By the end of the operation, we probably had 10,000 or 10,500 involved in Afghanistan, and so the numbers were going up, not coming down.

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Did you ever have any concerns, as a commander, when the vice president would come out and say, ``We know with absolute certainty,'' knowing as a military man that intel is not always a certainty?

Unfortunately, I was on the side that believed with absolute certainty, because I was looking at the same intelligence that the man you mentioned was looking at and so it would make no difference whether it was Tenet, Colin Powell or Don Rumsfeld talking about defense intelligence or the vice president. Because I was looking at the intelligence feeds just like they were, and the conclusion that I drew was there was no doubt about a terrorist connection and there was no doubt about weapons of mass destruction.

I didn't view this as a matter of ``groupthink.'' I viewed it as the result of intelligence operations that were aimed at a problem. And the problem was a perception given to the U.S., given to the world, by U.N. inspectors who reported in 1999 that there was enough biological agent stock unaccounted for in Iraq to destroy millions of people on this planet. Now the U.S. intelligence didn't dream that up. The only people on the ground were the United Nations inspectors, and that's what they said.

Well, when you take that from United Nations inspectors and you say, now we've got this thing that looks like these Iraqis have lots and lots of uncontrolled biologicals - well, if you just suffered 9/11, what are you going to do about that? You are going to believe that doggone stuff can really and truly be there.

And if you couple that with the secretive activity by Saddam's regime. You know we didn't have people on the ground in there sniffing this stuff out after the U.N. inspectors left, but we were flying our jets in operations in southern watch and northern watch and we had lots of film. We could look at lots of strange and unusual things - refrigeration trucks pulling up to ammunition plants. Why?

... I say in the book that my greatest surprise during this operation was, as we got our forces close to Baghdad, that we had not yet been chemicalized. That was my greatest surprise because there was no doubt in my mind that as we moved on Baghdad, and the regime determined that all of their speed-bump forces, regular army forces, had been rolled over, that they would say, ``We are threatened and we're going to use it.'' That was the intelligence assessment. And we were wrong. I've not debated that with anyone, but what would be wrong and unfair would be to say that someone knew better but was so hell-bent on doing this operation and removing Saddam Hussein that they blew off the facts. That simply was not the case. I was convinced. ...
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Are you still comfortable with the decision to attack Iraq?

It's easy to fall in a trap that says, well, what do you think about the pre-emptive doctrine? You went into Iraq to pre-empt there and you found he doesn't have any WMD. I smile when people say something like that. Does that mean he didn't kill 300,000 of his own people? The fact that he didn't have WMD - does that mean that he didn't try to kill a sitting president of the United States? Does that mean he did not use WMD on his own people or against the Iranians? Does that mean that when 9/11 happened, he didn't say, ``Good!''?

My gracious, the fact that Saddam Hussein sits in prison today and that his sons are dead and all that is something that eases my ability to go to sleep each night. ... Saddam Hussein was threatening the United States of America. There's no question about that. I can prove it. The number of times that he shot at my young kids that were flying from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, flying out of Turkey, enforcing United Nations sanctions - they were being shot at by the regime of Saddam Hussein every day. Now if a man will do that, if a leader will do that in the face of the world, in the face of the United Nations, would he not take additional actions to harm Americans?

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I just happen to be a guy who believes in the sanctity of the United States of America. I believe that a couple of hundred years of American history are very, very important. It's corny, really corny, but I have a 7-year-old granddaughter and a 4-year-old grandson, and I want them to be able to grow up to be reporters, if that's what they want to be, or be in the military or be doctors or be cameramen or whatever it is. I'm willing to go to extreme lengths in terms of risking the treasure of this country, to include our young people, to be damn sure that happens.

[Mavdog]

Here's what he said today about kerry:
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Franks Says Kerry Qualified for President
By WILLIAM C. MANN, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired Gen. Tommy Franks, producer of the early military successes in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Sunday that criticism of John Kerry's war record is political hyperbole and Kerry is "absolutely" qualified to be commander in chief.

A year into retirement, Franks also said he has not decided whether to endorse President Bush for re-election. "I don't know yet. I'm leaning in that direction," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Franks, whose hometown is Midland, Texas - where the president and first lady Laura Bush grew up - has been making television appearances in recent days to publicize his just-published memoirs, "American Soldier."

"Do you think Senator Kerry is qualified to be commander in chief?" Franks was asked.

"Absolutely!" he said.

But like the criticism of Kerry, the retired general said the Democratic nominee's recent harsh words about the war plan Franks created in Afghanistan was motivated by politics and his failure to capture al-Qaida network leader Osama bin Laden.

"I think a presidential election year is a marvelous thing. I think Senator Kerry is a patriot. And I think what ... what we're doing is, we're seeing an attempt to sort of draw the lines between the two parties in this country. And I wouldn't have it any other way," Franks said.

The characterization of Kerry as a coward and liar who did not earn the medals awarded him for his Vietnam service came in a television ad sponsored by a group that fashions calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry was skipper of one of the small Mekong River boats and received the Silver Star and Bronze Star for valor and three Purple Hearts for wounds.

"I really work hard to stay away from hyperbole," Franks said. "People ask me all the time about `Fahrenheit 9/11' and then others will ask me about some equally vitriolic view at the end of the continuum on the conservative side."

"I believe that life really is someplace between the two," Franks said, "and so I am not a fan of hyperbole, whether it is for or against Senator Kerry or George W. Bush."

"Fahrenheit 9/11" is the anti-Bush film by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Franks said he also has not decided whether he would want to speak at the Republican National Convention.

"I'm a fiercely independent kind of guy and rather proud of it," Franks said.

[FishForLunch]

When Kerry says losing the peace does he blame Tommy Franks for it or is it just hyperbole and leftist mantra "I must be Bush's fault"