Rumsfeld to offer Franks top army post: report

Agence France Press ^ | 4-27-03

[mikenola]

Rumsfeld to offer Franks top army post: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) Apr 27, 2003 US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to offer the top army post to General Tommy Franks, who led coalition forces to victory in Iraq, according to a report here. Secretary of the Army Thomas White announced his resignation abruptly on Friday after a meeting with Rumsfeld and Deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. A brief Pentagon statement announcing the departure offered no explanation and did not say when it would take place.

Now Rumsfeld, who has clashed with top Army leadership due to his drive to streamline the force, wants to offer Franks the job, according to Knight Ridder Newspapers.

If Franks accepts, Rumsfeld would appoint Franks's deputy, Lieutenant General John Abizaid, to take over for him at US Central Command, the report said, citing Pentagon officials.

Rumsfeld was headed to the Gulf early Sunday to review US military commitments in the region. His itinerary was not announced for security reasons but according to a report by CNN he will visit Iraq during the trip, his first to the region since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Rumsfeld did confirm his first stop as Afghanistan, where he was to meet with Franks and President Hamid Karzai, but the US military later said the visit was being rescheduled. Rumsfeld's plane was delayed for six hours in Ireland due to mechanical problems.

White's two year tenure as Secretary of the Army was marred by investigations into his activities as a top executive at the failed energy trading firm Enron and apparent public clashes with Rumsfeld.

A rumoured resignation did not materialize in May 2002 when one of White's subordinates sent "talking points" to US lawmakers in support of the Crusader, an 11 billion-dollar artillery system in development that Rumsfeld had decided to dump.

Rumsfeld was reportedly furious again in February when White backed Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki's testimony in Congress that, based on his experiences in Bosnia, it might take "several hundred thousand" US soldiers to keep the peace in postwar Iraq.

Shinseki plans to retire in June, giving Rumsfeld considerable room to appoint army leaders who share his vision of a leaner, lighter army that will take a back row to the Air Force and Special Operations forces in future conflicts, as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, Knight Ridder noted.

The secretary of the army, usually a civilian, has responsibility for financial management, manpower and personnel, communications, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, among other duties.

[mikenola]

Sorry for the weird source, but its an AFP report. Thank goodness for Google news

The Blog that Care Forgot

[Lecie]

I do believe a military person has to be retired for 10 years before he can assume a post such as this.

[rgboomers]

I concur. Unless the law has recently changed, a member of the military has to have been separated from the service for 10 years before serving as Secretary of any of the armed services. This is to further the concept of civilian control of the military. General Franks is obviously a very competent well qualified individual. However, he definitely is not a civilian, thank God.

[tomkat]

... according to Knight Ridder Newspapers.

reason enough for some healthy scepticism.

[mikenola]

Army shakeups clear path for Rumsfeld's vision; Franks may be offered top job

This is the Knight Ridder report referred to in the article.

[Lecie]

Thanks. I see what the top job is now. He's going to be replacing Shinseki.

[OK]

This article must be referring to Shinseki's job for Franks, Army Chief of Staff, not the job of Secretary of the Army. Rumsfeld would not be choosing White's replacement anyway, Bush would. IMO.

[You Dirty Rats]

Secretary of the Army is a pretty useless position anyway. Back when we had War and Navy Departments, the Secretaries were important and well-known (Henry Stimson & Frank Knox, for example), but now that we have a unified Defense Department, who cares?

[Semper Paratus]

Shinseki

Wasn't he the one that let Clinton use the Army has an extended Social Services Agency.

[txradioguy]

Yes he was a Clintoon appointee. Also the mand who came up with giving th Army the Rangers black beret. I'm curious to know one thing that this story left out. Why, Shinseki's deputy, whom Rummy said over a year ago would the Army CofS spot, sunndenly last month announced he would not be taking the job. What's up with that? The CofS job would be a great reward for Gen Franks for leading the first two succesful operations in the War on Terrorism.

[jackbill]

This article must be referring to Shinseki's job for Franks, Army Chief of Staff, not the job of Secretary of the Army. Rumsfeld would not be choosing White's replacement anyway, Bush would. IMO.

I believe that the President also selects the Chiefs of Staff. Of course, I doubt that President Bush would have any problem appointing Franks to replace Shinseki and he may be having Rumsfeld feeling Franks out on the subject.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Shinsekis' replacement has already been announced by Rumsfeld as General John Keane. It would be unusual for him to make a change like this.

[txradioguy]

Smedley, that's an old release. An Army Times news brief from two weeks ago said that Gen Keane's office announced he would NOT take the Chief of Staff job. Nof further explanation was given.

[cynicom]

Shikshinny was a clinton embarrassment. At least Bush is allowing him to retire without being fired.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting and your warning re AFP.

AFP, or as I have nicknamed them, Arabic Froggie Press.

AFP's so called articles should be in a special section in Free Republic, "Fairy Tales and Wet Dreams posing as News!"

Of course Reuters, NY Slimes, LA Slimes, Washington Compost and other left wing fishwrap phoney news and opeds should be in the "Fairy Tales and Wet Dreams posing as News!" section.

[txradioguy]

This is an exerpt from the April 24th column by Rowan Scarbourough and Bill Gertz.


ARMY CHIEF

Mr. Rumsfeld this week stepped up his search to find a new Army chief of staff, after the man picked for the job bowed out.
The Army vice chief, Gen. John M. Keane, was tentatively picked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff post. But Gen. Keane decided to retire to spend more time with his family, defense sources say.
Insiders say Mr. Rumsfeld discussed candidates during meetings with his military and civilian advisers this week. Sources say he has thrown out a wide search net, including consideration of two-, three- and four-star generals, as well as retired officers.


Keane bowed out, and the search is on.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Thanks. A search on Google didn't turn up anything that announced Keane had turned down the post and I have been on vacation and out of the loop for nearly two weeks.

[txradioguy]

Glad I could help. That little announcement plus White's resignations have all of us scratching our heads a little bit.

[OldFriend]

Abizaid has been quite impressive during this Iraq war.

Go Rummy Go

[fnord]

Good, let his first order of business be to rid us of that beret. Admit it was a mistake, give the black beret back to the Rangers, and let the rest go back to the much more functional utility cap.

Then he can start rooting out the PCness (COO, gender-norming, etc.)

But I won't hold my breath ...