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29 October 2002

General Franks Says Many Governments See Iraq as Growing Threat

(Defense Department Report, October 29) (410)
The "depth of commitment" by U.S. friends, partners and allies that
share the view of Iraq's regime as a growing threat is not fully
appreciated, according to U.S. General Tommy Franks.
Briefing reporters at the Pentagon October 29, Franks, who is
commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), was asked how hard it
would be to form a military "coalition of the willing" if the United
States fails to get a suitable resolution on Iraq from the U.N.
Security Council.
"The best case is for us to be able ... to build our force list, our
coalition, based on work by the Security Council within their
charter," Franks responded. "I think the one thing that is not fully
appreciated is the depth of commitment of nations around this world to
... the notion that the regime in Baghdad is not helpful, either
within the region or around the world; that the threat is present,
that the threat is growing.
"In terms of how many nations would join the coalition, I don't know.
... I will say that my sense, visiting the region ... is that we have
a great many friends, partners and allies who see the situation the
same way we do," Franks said.
Asked his opinion about links between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime,
Franks answered, "the linkage ... is not the issue with me. The issue
is the potential of a state with weapons of mass destruction passing
those weapons" to terrorists. "I believe that that risk exists," he
said
Franks explained that Operation Internal Look, planned for early
December in the CENTCOM region, will take a week to 10 days, and will
involve the testing in the field of a deployable tactical
command-and-control operation center (TOC), which is a new capability
for a U.S. combatant command.
"[W]hat that actually means is containers of communications gear, very
large communication pipes, that we're able to put in the back of an
airplane, fly it a long ways, land it on the ground, and then set up a
command-and-control complex," Franks said. The TOC takes from 600 to
1,000 people to operate, he said. The purpose of the exercise will be
to link up electronically air, land and sea forces in the region, with
CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa.
Once the exercise is over, CENTCOM has the option of bringing all
equipment and personnel back to the United States, or leaving the
equipment in place with a caretaker force, or with "some people in it,
including some staff officers," Franks said.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)