• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

21 August 2002

Bush Says Central Command Chief Preparing Contingency Plans

(Rumsfeld says contingency planning is part of all commanders'
responsibilities) (670)
President Bush said General Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S.
Central Command, is drawing up military plans to deal with all
contingencies.
"General Franks is doing his job. And one of the jobs that the
Secretary of Defense has tasked to members of his general staff is to
prepare for all contingencies, whether it be in the particular country
that you seem to be riveted on, or any other country, for that
matter," Bush said to reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas August
21.
President Bush made that comment in response to a question from a
reporter about U.S. planning a possible attack on Iraq to remove
Saddam Hussein. Bush has said that Saddam Hussein should be replaced
as the leader of Iraq, but he has made no decision about how this
should be done.
Standing beside President Bush at the press conference, Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld said contingency planning is part of the
responsibilities of all combat commanders.
Following is an excerpt from the transcript of the press conference
dealing with military contingency planning:
(begin excerpt)
Q: He has said that he is drawing up war plans to provide you with
credible options. Now, should the American people conclude from that
that you're reaching some critical point, that a decision is imminent?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, in the midst of the frenzy -- (laughter)
-- I want you to note that General Franks is not here. General Franks
is doing his job. And one of the jobs that the Secretary of Defense
has tasked to members of his general staff is to prepare for all
contingencies, whether it be in the particular country that you seem
to be riveted on, or any other country, for that matter.
We face a -- the world is not stable. The world changes. There are --
this terrorist network is global in nature and they may strike
anywhere. And, therefore, we've got to be prepared to use our military
and all the other assets at our disposal in a way to keep the peace.
So General Franks is doing what the Secretary has asked.
Would you like to comment on that?
SECRETARY RUMSFELD: I would. As the President indicated, one of the
things we discussed here today was the contingency planning guidance
that he signed. I then meet with all of the combatant commanders for
every area of responsibility across the globe. I do it on a regular
basis. We go over all the conceivable contingencies that could occur.
So General Franks, as well as every other combatant commander -- I
met, I think, within the last 30 days with at least three of them on
various types of contingency plans in totally different parts of the
world. That's my job. That's their job, is to see that we have the
ability to protect the American people and deal effectively on behalf
of our friends and our allies and our deployed forces.
So it is their task to work with me and ultimately with the President
as the chain of command goes from the Commander-in-Chief, the
President of the United States, to me, to the combatant commanders.
And they're doing exactly what I've asked them to do and what the
President has asked me to do.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)