Pentagon Investigates Top General Franks

CNN ^

[Future Snake Eater]

Maybe I'm confused, but how is this any different than a soldier's wife traveling on a Space-A flight?

[Squantos]

Franks properly repaid the government for his wife's travel on military aircraft ????

Huh ? I believe the DOD still calls this space "A" travel.....aka "Free for dependents"....... I have to wonder if Lil Tommy has either pissed off some of his ass kissing generals or his superiors who expect him to pucker up as well and is experiencing some nitpicking payback .

Stay Safe !

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I'm sure his enemies are relishing this moment!

[areafiftyone]

The 57-year-old Texas native is highly decorated from his service, including in Vietnam and the 1991 Persian Gulf War, with five bronze stars, three purple hearts and two distinguished service awards.

[woodyinscc]

"This may be the answer!"

As usual you are right on top of this!
There is a lot more to this this than meets the eye.
I can't find the link to this story, but I recall it(the apointment of the top aide to be out of the ordinary)

[Mo1]

Yes there was but my question is, who is making this complaint about his wife?

[ironman]

Other Thread: (Gen.) Franks Is Subject of Internal Probe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/835522/posts

[Kevin Curry]

He's a Texan then, a right-thinking American. Good. I hope he scraps his way our of this.

[CWW]

FYI -- Anyone can file a complaint with the IG against anyone. Wait until you get the results. The allegations are that he allowed his wife to sit in on classified briefings and that he allowed his wife to fly with him on military aircraft. We'll see.

[xzins]

See #17.

Spouses SLEEP with those who have top secret information. Does anyone for a moment think that these highly intelligent women are in the dark? It's ridiculous.

Our spouse networks put 2 + 2 together faster than a fat boy eats a reece's cup. And what does "present when discussed mean?"

These leaders don't use a cone of silence. Two officers get together and they talk. If they get together at a social function, they talk. If they're at the house for a shared cup of coffee, they talk.

It's not just behind locked doors in secure facilities. That's an unrealistic expectation. Information must be shared at opportune moments.

[Mo1]

FYI -- Anyone can file a complaint with the IG against anyone

Anyone???

[Semper Paratus]

The selfishness and self-centeredness of some Americans really gets to me.

Regardless of the merit of these charges, General Franks is in the process of sending tens of thousands of troops into a shooting war and deserves 100% focus on that.

[eddie willers]

Something's not kosher.

[r9etb]

Here is a link to the thread, which refers to an.

Rumsfeld Quietly Sidesteps General Franks With Proven Airborne Ranger Warfighter.
WashTimes "Inside Ring" | Gertz/Scarborough

Pentagon chatter says Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld finally has his own man at U.S. Central Command to supervise a war against Iraq: Army Lt. Gen. John P. Abizaid.

Officials said the hard-charging Mr. Rumsfeld was not always happy with the way Gen. Tommy Franks ran the war in Afghanistan. He has worried that Gen. Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command, will not be innovative enough in waging war against Iraq.

Now, however, Mr. Rumsfeld has plucked a general from the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and sent him to Central Command as Mr. Franks' deputy. In fact, Gen. Abizaid is already at CentCom's warfighting command center in Qatar getting ready to direct a war.

It was an odd move, given that CentCom already had a deputy commander, who is staying at its Tampa headquarters. But it does give Mr. Rumsfeld a deputy in the Gulf region whom he fully trusts.

A favorite of the defense secretary, Gen. Abizaid is a West Point graduate and career infantryman who speaks fluent Arabic, a skill that should help with Persian Gulf allies.

He also speaks German and Italian, a skill that helped when he commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Germany in 1999-2000.

[eleni121]

Some background perhaps? (from the Guardian)

Rumsfield publicly praises Franks as 'a wise and inspiring commander', but many testify to tension between the two: Rumsfeld is said to view Franks as flat-footed, unimaginative and too conventional, and Franks to view Rumsfeld as - in Colin Powell's phrase used of Wolfowitz - a 'slide rule general'. The Afghan war was fought using a mixture of assault from outer space, surrogate Afghan allies and elite forces, and that is how Rumsfeld, impatient with what he sees as outdated, cumbersome infantry and artillery, wants to fight for Iraq.

[PhiKapMom]

The IG does not take anyone's charges and launch an investigation. There has to be proof before a formal investigation is launched.

Anyone that thinks a spouse should sit in on Top Secret briefings without a clearance is wrong. I never discussed Top Secret with my husband years ago when I had access and never would. What stays in a briefing, stays within those walls, spouse or no spouse.

General Franks knows all the regulations regarding what a spouse can and cannot do. Whether he did this or not the investigation will point out -- the problem I see is that he left himself open to this and that should not have happened.

[montag813]

Sources said that there were several allegations -- the most serious may be that Franks allowed his wife, Cathy, to be present during discussions of highly classified material. These sources said there are also questions about whether Franks properly repaid the government for his wife's travel on military aircraft.

The latter is trivial, the former is very bad, if true.

[onedoug]

Rumsfeld said in a news conference about two weeks ago that Franks had specifically asked for this aid, but that no one in the Pentagon was keen on the idea since he'd benn doing such a fine job there. Rumsfeld said Franks had initially approched Wolfowitz about it, who replied that Franks would have to convince Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld said he became convinced that Franks needed who he'd asked for, and the aid was assigned.

Is Rumsfeld being cagey? I can't believe he'd be stting himself up to be caught in a lie.

[Lion's Cub]

I would suggest not jumping the gun on this, and wait until the report is submitted.

I agree. So far, this has been on CNN and in the WP, I think. If he were being investigated for things that happened under the Toon regime, I doubt they'd be so anxious to run with it.

OTOH, Rummy did send a guy to replace him as needed, so he may be aware that it does not look good for Franks. We'll just have to wait and see.

[anniegetyourgun]

Oddly enough, CNN never bothered to 'learn' such things in the past. I'm certain this is not the first of its kind, nor will it be the last.

The last administration only talked about being ethical, while perpetrating and allowing for corruption at all levels in all institutions. This one is trying to hold to a real standard, with the goal of restoring confidence in many aspects of our society.