Posted on 11/20/2003 5:14:53 PM PST by hope
Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack
John O. Edwards, NewsMax.comGen. 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.
Friday, Nov. 21, 2003
Franks, who successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, expressed his worries in an extensive interview he gave to the mens lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado.
In the magazines December edition, the former commander of the militarys 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 weve 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 didnt 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 soldiers 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 Ladens 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 hes not very smart. I find the contrary. I think hes very, very bright. And I suspect that hell be judged as a man who led this country through a crease in history effectively. Probably well 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 presidents 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 Pentagons 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 wont say thatll be within 19 or 43 days. ... I believe it is inevitable.
Franks ended his interview with a less-than-optimistic note. Its not in the history of civilization for peace ever to reign. Never has in the history of man. ... I doubt that well ever have a time when the world will actually be at peace.
Editor's note:
Check out "Resolve" with the official President Bush photo Click Here Now
The Iraqi "Deck of Death" playing cards Get yours today!
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
George W. Bush
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
Al-Qaeda
War on Terrorism
See my post 65. The armed forces and the politicians and every other government employee have taken an oath to protect, defend and bear true faith and allegiance to that document. They day they discard it is the day they become the enemy themselves.
As hard as it may be, we can get through such a scenario without that, we can survive it. What we will not survive is a discarding of the constitution...at least not until it it restored.
Try explaining that to the people seeing news footage of a mushroom cloud over an American city on every TV station. The banks would have to be shut down to keep people from yanking out all their money and crashing the system. Grocery stores would have their shelves stripped in short order. Untold numbers of people will flee the larger cities for fear of another imminent nuclear bombing. Freeways in major population centers will be clogged with traffic jams worse than even the worst rush hour in LA.
Never underestimate the power of millions of frightened people.
Well said. That is why every Democrap that does not support our effort now is aiding the enemy.
I get so angry when they say they want our troops home now. Why, so we can fight them here among our civilian casualties?
"If, in foreign invasion or civil war, the courts are actually closed, and it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to law, then, on the theatre of active military operations, where war really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for the civil authority, thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of the army and society; and as no power is left but the military, it is allowed to govern by martial rule until the laws can have their free course. As necessity creates the rule, so it limits its duration; for, if this government is continued after the courts are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. Martial rule can never exist where the courts are open, and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. It is also confined to the locality of actual war."
IMHO, martial law would be a necessity in "the locality of acutal war".
But martial law is nuanced. Civilian control with the military providing security in America is indeed martial law.
General Franks got a bit hyperbolic but in the advent of a nuke or biolgical weapon in a major city, the military would not only be advisable, it would be necessary.
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