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Thirty years ago Saigon fell. I was a company commander in the 2 nd Battalion, 508 th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82 nd Airborne Division. When our Vietnam veterans cursed the war, I remembered one of the greatest speeches I ever heard - the day the Vietnam peace was announced to my Winter Ranger class in ’73. The senior Ranger Sergeant cursed everything about the Vietnam War and everyone involved, friend or foe, in a poetic rant of imaginative, sincere, foul-mouthed hatred. He swore most passionately about the waste of his buddies’ lives. He blamed everyone and everything he knew to...

Rudy Giuliani, Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher are just a few of the internationally known figures who have visited Benedictine University in recent years. Retired Gen. Tommy Franks will be next on the list. Franks, who led the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, will speak at the Lisle university on March 14. "We couldn't think of too many other people who've had the impact he's had on the world the last couple years," said university spokesman Phil Brozynski. Tickets go on sale on Dec. 15 for the speaking event. Franks also will meet with area high school students...

from the February 13, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0213/p01s03-woiq.html Plan: US general to run Iraq In Ankara and Washington, the US outlined its plans for a post-Hussein Iraq. Some Iraqi opposition leaders object. By Cameron W. Barr | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor SULAYMANIYAH, IRAQ - The head of the US military's Central Command, Gen. Tommy Franks, will rule Iraq in the initial aftermath of a US invasion to overthrow President Saddam Hussein. Administration officials briefed senators Tuesday on postwar planning, stressing that the US goal is "to liberate Iraq, not to occupy it," and last week a US...

What I've Learned: Tommy Franks General, 57, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida Interview by Cal Fussman Those are men's wedding gowns from central Asia. When one visits in central Asia, the host will frequently make a gift of the local wedding attire for men. So I brought 'em back and put 'em up in my office. Why does that surprise you? Freedom is not free. One of the things I believe fervently was said probably 175 years ago by Clausewitz: In battle, outcomes are determined by this trinity. You have to have a decision by the state. You have to...

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday dismissed a report that a U.S. decision not to put ground troops at Tora Bora last year let Osama bin Laden escape. Rumsfeld bridled when asked whether U.S. Afghanistan war commander Army Gen. Tommy Franks had made a major mistake in his approach to the Tora Bora campaign, as alleged by unnamed U.S. government sources in a Washington Post story. "My view of the whole thing is that until the lessons learned are known and have been developed -- they're still being worked on -- I wouldn't be able to...