"Franks is one of the best spokeman for the war and the administration that Ive seen. Too bad he is a private citizen."
I am pretty sure that President Bush offered him the position of Army Chief of Staff, but General Franks said no. I have always wondered why. He doesn't appear to be against the president?
I think Bush and Rumsfeld wanted a special operations veteran. Gen. Franks is extremely respectful and intelligent about special ops, but he did not come out of that community.
Pulling Schoomaker off the retired list was a brilliant stroke. I don't know if Franks made the suggestion but he might have done. I know that Shinseki thought it was an awful idea. Rick Shinseki was a disaster as Chief of Staff and is an extreme liberal by Army standards, but it's important to understand that all of these generals are very impressive guys. The military is a very competitive meritocracy and everybody from O-6 on up (that's Colonel, or navy Captain) is unusually smart and motivated.
For instance, Shinseki served bravely in combat, suffered horrible wounds, and stayed on active duty with a prosthetic leg, when this was a novel idea and very hard to do. He's also very intelligent, quick. I don't like the man and I don't like many of his decisions, but he is a man of ability.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Franks said at the time he was done. He wanted to retire from the Army, end of story. Sean Hannity pressed him on whether he would run for political office, and he said, NO, NO, NO. He said he "didn't like the draft" when it was around and wouldn't submit to it now for political office. He wants to be free to do what he wants to do.