Scripps Howard News Service February 11, 2003
Hard-nosed general set to lead next Gulf War
By Tara Copp
WASHINGTON - If the United States attacks Iraq, the strategy will likely look a lot like the 1991 Gulf War. That's because four-star Gen. Tommy Franks, a Texas Army hero with three Purple Hearts, is in charge.
Franks is the commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, which oversees 25 nations, including parts of Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East. For the last 17 months, he's been hunting terrorists - Franks was ordered Sept. 12, 2001 to attack Osama bin Laden.
While the Afghanistan campaign began more like how the Pentagon sees future wars fought - a coordinated series of precision bombings and targeted special ops missions - the Iraq war could be a more Franks-style chokehold.
More than 113,000 troops are now assembled in the Persian Gulf region with an estimated 250,000 eventually expected. Experts suggest troop levels will be the defining feature of this conflict, rather than smaller forces and advanced weaponry that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has promoted since taking office.
"The indications are that Franks' initial war plans are not at all what the Secretary of Defense was looking for, it almost looks like Desert Storm II," said Patrick Garrett, a military analyst with Globalsecurity.org. "It's a lot bigger than what Rumsfeld wanted, and it doesn't look at all like it will reflect the military transformation that Donald Rumsfeld has staked his military reputation on."
Others within the Pentagon say that Franks insisted on the biggest force possible to forestall a repeat of a tactical mistake in Afghanistan which critics say led to the escape of Osama bin Laden.
There, partly because he did not have enough GIs to do the job, Franks dispatched hundreds of local Afghan fighters to ring the Tora Bora mountain holdout where al Qaeda forces - including bin Laden, according to intelligence reports - were holed up.
That turned out to be a costly blunder, because the local fighters - swayed by cash and tribal alliances - allowed hundreds of al Qaeda forces to slip away.
Former Clinton Secretary of the Air Force Whit Peters said such disagreement is normal.
"I get the sense that there's grousing," Peters said, "But I wouldn't go so far as to say there's a division. These issues arise all the time. In Kosovo, (the forces there) wanted to move Apache helicopters, but (then Secretary of Defense William) Cohen wouldn't let them do it."
In many senses, Franks is the archetypal commander. Unwilling to be pushed, adamant that the men on his watch get full protection. Two of his favorite sayings: "No one hates war like a soldier hates war" and "No plan survives contact with the enemy."
The six-foot-three-inch Texas boy grew up in Midland with both George and Laura Bush. He attended Midland Lee High School with Laura Bush, graduating in 1964. He tried college at the University of Texas at Austin, but failed to study, so he dropped out and joined the Army. He got married in 1969 to Cathy Carley. They have one daughter, Jacqy Matlock.
Franks was wounded three times during Vietnam from 1967 to 1969 and was awarded three Purple Hearts. Since then he's served in Germany; Korea; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Monroe, Va.; and the Pentagon. In June 2000, he was promoted to four-star general, the highest Army rank, and assigned to Central Command.
He hasn't been star-struck by his fame. He flat out avoids the media when possible, unlike his predecessor Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. But he's allegedly acted above the rules a few times since the Sept. 11 attacks, enough to trigger an investigation over alleged security breaches involving his wife.
The breaches involve Cathy Franks' alleged use of a military jet for transportation, a security detail assigned to her and her inclusion in high-level security briefings.
"I think he looks at this, and the threat being posed to the country, as significantly different," Garrett said. "Al Qaeda would not be above lashing out at him or his wife to get to him, and that maybe one thing to help safeguard God and country is to make sure his wife is safe. On the other hand, you can't let anyone who hasn't been screened sit in on war plans ... it's a serious security breach."
The impact of the military investigation was diffused by Rumsfeld, who came quickly to Franks' defense last week. And the troop buildup continues.
"(Franks will) try to ensure that his forces will not be put in a situation where they're at a disadvantage," retired Air Force Gen. Richard Hawley said. "He will be typically conservative, as most military commanders are.
"People talk about this being a cake walk - the fact is Iraq still has several thousand troops that have had months to prepare themselves."
Copyright © 2003, Scripps Howard News Service
