Bush Constitution Watch

In the magazine's December edition, the former commander of the military
's 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 we've 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 didn't 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 "soldier's 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 Laden's 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 he's not very
smart. I find the contrary. I think he's very, very bright. And I
suspect that he'll be judged as a man who led this country through a
crease in history effectively. Probably we'll 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 president's 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 Pentagon's 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 won't say that'll be within 19 or 43 days. ... I believe it is
inevitable."

Franks ended his interview with a less-than-optimistic note. "It's not
in the history of civilization for peace ever to reign. Never has in the
history of man. ... I doubt that we'll ever have a time when the world
will actually be at peace




Shalom,
---Prof. Leland Milton Goldblatt, Ph.D. ®
Reverend Chancellor Leland Milton Goldblatt Ph.D. ED.D. M.F.A, D.Div. M.Theo .
Copyright © 2003

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