BoatBanter.com - Bush's Conspiracy

Friday, Nov. 21, 2003

Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of
mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will
likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government. Franks, who
successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, expressed his
worries in an extensive interview he gave to the men's lifestyle magazine
Cigar Aficionado.

In the magazine's December edition, the former commander of the military's
Central Command warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of
mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it would
likely have catastrophic consequences for our cherished republican form of
government.

Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept.
11, Franks said that "the worst thing that could happen" is if terrorists
acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts
heavy casualties.

If that happens, Franks said, "... the Western world, the free world, loses
what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a
couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy."

Franks then offered "in a practical sense" what he thinks would happen in
the aftermath of such an attack.

"It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist,
massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world - it may be
in the United States of America - that causes our population to question our
own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a
repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins
to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important."

Franks didn't speculate about how soon such an event might take place.

Already, critics of the U.S. Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in the
wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, have argued that the law aims to curtail civil
liberties and sets a dangerous precedent.

But Franks' scenario goes much further. He is the first high-ranking
official to openly speculate that the Constitution could be scrapped in
favor of a military form of government.

The usually camera-shy Franks retired from U.S. Central Command, known in
Pentagon lingo as CentCom, in August 2003, after serving nearly four decades
in the Army.

Franks earned three Purple Hearts for combat wounds and three Bronze Stars
for valor. Known as a "soldier's general," Franks made his mark as a top
commander during the U.S.'s successful Operation Desert Storm, which
liberated Kuwait in 1991. He was in charge of CentCom when Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda attacked the United States on Sept. 11.

Franks said that within hours of the attacks, he was given orders to prepare
to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan and to capture bin Laden.

Franks offered his assessment on a number of topics to Cigar Aficionado,
including:

President Bush: "As I look at President Bush, I think he will ultimately be
judged as a man of extremely high character. A very thoughtful man, not
having been appraised properly by those who would say he's not very smart. I
find the contrary. I think he's very, very bright. And I suspect that he'll
be judged as a man who led this country through a crease in history
effectively. Probably we'll think of him in years to come as an American
hero."

On the motivation for the Iraq war: Contrary to claims that top Pentagon
brass opposed the invasion of Iraq, Franks said he wholeheartedly agreed
with the president's decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein.

"I, for one, begin with intent. ... There is no question that Saddam Hussein
had intent to do harm to the Western alliance and to the United States of
America. That intent is confirmed in a great many of his speeches, his
commentary, the words that have come out of the Iraqi regime over the last
dozen or so years. So we have intent.

"If we know for sure ... that a regime has intent to do harm to this
country, and if we have something beyond a reasonable doubt that this
particular regime may have the wherewithal with which to execute the intent,
what are our actions and orders as leaders in this country?"

The Pentagon's deck of cards: Asked how the Pentagon decided to put its
most-wanted Iraqis on a set of playing cards, Franks explained its genesis.
He recalled that when his staff identified the most notorious Iraqis the
U.S. wanted to capture, "it just turned out that the number happened to be
about the same as a deck of cards. And so somebody said, 'Aha, this will be
the ace of spades.'"

Capturing Saddam: Franks said he was not surprised that Saddam has not been
captured or killed. But he says he will eventually be found, perhaps sooner
than Osama bin laden.

"The capture or killing of Saddam Hussein will be a near term thing. And I
won't say that'll be within 19 or 43 days. ... I believe it is inevitable."

Franks ended his interview with a less-than-optimistic note. "It's not in
the history of civilization for peace ever to reign. Never has in the
history of man. ... I doubt that we'll ever have a time when the world will
actually be at peace."