Franks: Mission Accomplished was my idea

[basso]

yet another liberal shibboleth down the drain:

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/9304837.htm

--
Franks: `Mission Accomplished' aimed to draw foreign involvement

BY DAVID TARRANT
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - (KRT) - After commanding the operation that toppled Saddam Hussein, Gen. Tommy Franks suggested that President Bush publicly mark an end to major combat in Iraq - an idea that led to the president's politically controversial appearance aboard an aircraft carrier.

Bush's announcement, under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," took place just six weeks after the start of the war, generating harsh criticism as being a premature celebration and political grandstanding.

Franks, who retired a year ago, said he thought a public announcement would send a green light to countries that had balked at joining combat operations but had expressed willingness to join efforts to rebuild Iraq.

"That was not so everyone could have a victory lap," Franks said in a telephone interview Monday. "We'd been given to believe that once major hostilities were over, we would have lots and lots more help from the international community."

Franks spoke to newspaper reporters in a conference call to promote his book, "American Soldier." The 590-page book, published by Regan Books, goes on sale Tuesday.

Franks said the swift military victory in Iraq created false expectations that the rebuilding phase could be done quickly. Before fighting began, Franks said, he warned that a short war could cause problems if the United States wasn't prepared for the transition to postwar Iraq. But he refrained from second-guessing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or his own successor, Gen. John Abizaid.

Postwar planning was hampered by a lack of information about how Iraqis would respond, he said.

"I hoped that the Iraqis would immediately rise up and become part of the solution. We simply didn't know. For that reason, we didn't know how long our operations would take."

Franks said he now expects U.S. forces to remain in Iraq for up to five years.

That Iraq didn't use weapons of mass destruction was the war's biggest surprise. He believes that Iraq had chemical and biological agents but that they weren't weaponized "for reasons we will surely know at some point."

Meanwhile, officials in Egypt and Jordan on Monday denied an account in Franks' book that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah had told him Saddam had chemical and biological weapons.

Asked about this year's election, Franks said he admires Bush's leadership but prefers to stay on the sidelines.

"I have no interest in politics," he said.

[SamFisher]

You might want to explain what "shibboleth" is down the drain.

Was the sign not really there?
:confused:

Is it now any less premature and hubristic. (? is that a word?)

And how naive does this look:

We'd been given to believe that once major hostilities were over, we would have lots and lots more help from the international community."


Either Franks is a total rube or he was misled by other rubes.

This sort of thing just makes it look worse. I saw some stupid talking head the other day trying to claim that the sign actually meant "the USS Lincoln had accomplished its mission, not the US";

Give it up guys, it's a back eye that may be the defining pratfall of the admin, dredging it up again is doing yourself no favors.

[mc mark]

So the Buck stops with Franks!

Got it!

[SamFisher]

By the way basso,

where does franks say "mission accomplished was my idea", or anything remotely close to that?

I looked in the article and couldn't find it, and the white house and navy claim otherwise.

[Cohen]

Originally posted by SamFisher
You might want to explain what "shibboleth" is down the drain.

Was the sign not really there?
:confused:
...




What basso is trying to say is that the President had no involvement and no prior knowledge at all that such a major announcment as the end of the war was going to be made. He didn't even have foreknowledge apparently, about what was in his own speech.

:rolleyes:

If that was really the intent, it further shows this Administration's total lack of savvy. The claim fooled NO ONE.

[Chump]

- have aircraft carrier parked a couple miles off the coast from San Diego, but don't let any media film where land would be visable

- have President land on carrier in a fighter jet, hop out in full combat flight suit

- have giant "Mission Accomplished" Banner waving



but this event was only staged to fish for more foreign support?

BS


that explanation insults my intelligence and only further shows how incompetant this administration is

[basso]

Originally posted by SamFisher
By the way basso,

where does franks say "mission accomplished was my idea", or anything remotely close to that?

I looked in the article and couldn't find it, and the white house and navy claim otherwise.

the event, not the sign....and the thread title is a paraphrase- note the lack of quotes, but i'm sorry if you feel mislead by the right once again.

[Rocketman95]

This administration really has turned the corner in regards to Truman's famous phrase.

Instead of the buck stopping in the Oval Office, it stops everywhere else!

[SamFisher]

Originally posted by basso
the event, not the sign....and the thread title is a paraphrase- note the lack of quotes, but i'm sorry if you feel mislead by the right once again.

Where does it say that the event was his idea?

And basso, I'm too smart to be misled, you know that.

[basso]

Originally posted by SamFisher
Where does it say that the event was his idea?


the opening sentence:

"After commanding the operation that toppled Saddam Hussein, Gen. Tommy Franks suggested that President Bush publicly mark an end to major combat in Iraq - an idea that led to the president's politically controversial appearance aboard an aircraft carrier."

[Rocketman95]

Originally posted by basso
the opening sentence:

"After commanding the operation that toppled Saddam Hussein, Gen. Tommy Franks suggested that President Bush publicly mark an end to major combat in Iraq - an idea that led to the president's politically controversial appearance aboard an aircraft carrier."

So, you blame the guy who suggested it, not the person who actually did it? Do you think if General Franks told Bush to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, he'd do it? That excuse didn't work for me when I was a kid, but it's gonna work with millions of voters in three months.

THE BUCK STOPS SOMEWHERE DOWN THE HALL

[SamFisher]

Originally posted by basso
the opening sentence:

"After commanding the operation that toppled Saddam Hussein, Gen. Tommy Franks suggested that President Bush publicly mark an end to major combat in Iraq - an idea that led to the president's politically controversial appearance aboard an aircraft carrier."

Ahhh, so he is the inspirational muse to the whole affair.

What about the crotch enhancing harness - Franks or Barney Frank?

[Chump]

so the President isnt responsible for the words that come out of his mouth (see: SOTU 2002)

the President isn't responsible for any carrier landings he is involved in either..


got it


what exactly is the President responsible for?

[Rocketman95]

Originally posted by Chump
what exactly is the President responsible for?

Turning the corner...

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally posted by Rocketman95
This administration really has turned the corner in regards to Truman's famous phrase.

Instead of the buck stopping in the Oval Office, it stops everywhere else!

True, but the real place that the "bucks" stop are in Bush and Cheney's wallets!:D

[Mulder]

but for the love of God don't look back around the corner behind us...

[basso]

Originally posted by SamFisher
Ahhh, so he is the inspirational muse to the whole affair.

What about the crotch enhancing harness - Franks or Barney Frank?

memo from andrew sullivan...

[basso]

Originally posted by SamFisher
Ahhh, so he is the inspirational muse to the whole affair.

What about the crotch enhancing harness - Franks or Barney Frank?

btw, do your efforts in this thread, wherein you spend so much time and energy trying to discredit an event that has no national import whatsoever other than recognizing the efforts of our military, entitle you to be recognized as ashlee simpson for a day?

[Mulder]

Originally posted by basso
so much time and energy... no national import whatsoever

Congratulations you just hit on the GOP's political strategy for the next 3 months.

[bnb]

Can't see what's the big deal about what was obviously a photo-op from the get go. I think that if ol' George were to fart, there'd be partisan debate over what he had for lunch!

[underoverup]

Is there any issue the Bush administration won't pass the buck on?

I guess if the war in Iraq gets any worse it will turn into Kerry's idea somehow.

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally posted by bnb
I think that if ol' George were to fart, there'd be partisan debate over what he had for lunch!

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/tech/0302/gallery.shuttlequotes/gallery.tom.delay.jpg

It was the beans!!

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/allpolitics/0105/speaks.democrat/2.tom.daschle.jpg

It was the cabbage!! It was definitely the cabbage!!!

:D

[Mulder]

Well little Georgie if Tommy Franks suggested that you to jump off a bridge would you do it?

[rimrocker]

More from Tommy...
____________________

General in Iraq war recounts his warning of postwar bloodshed

By Corky Siemaszko
New York Daily News

NEW YORK — The U.S. general who routed Saddam Hussein's army in three weeks warned before the invasion that a quick victory could lead to a "catastrophic success" because neither the United States nor Iraq was prepared for postwar anarchy.

"We will have to stand up a new Iraqi army, and create a constabulary that includes a representative tribal, religious, and ethnic mix," retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks writes in a new autobiography recounting the tense days before the war. "It will take time."

President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell agreed, Franks writes, but he says he did not get the "open checkbook" he needed to put Saddam's soldiers on the new Iraqi government's payroll.

"I would continue to argue that there could be no security without civic action," Franks writes in "American Soldier," which goes on sale tomorrow. "Penny wise will surely be pound foolish, I thought. We will spend dollars today ... or blood tomorrow."

His warning echoed that of Powell, who believed Franks should have struck Iraq with a bigger force and warned Bush of the dangers of occupying Iraq. "If you break it, you own it," Franks says Powell warned Bush before the invasion.

Franks, however, expresses no regrets about the war and says everyone believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

"History reveals that wars often end in chaos that continues for years," he writes.

Franks' struggles to run the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld breathing down his neck drives the narrative. At one point, Franks writes, he even threatened to quit.

"Since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, we'd become accustomed to the demands of Secretary Rumsfeld," Franks writes. "But now even my industrious planners found that the daily barrage of tasks and questions was beginning to border on harassment." Franks also is unsparing in his criticism of Pentagon officials such as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, whom he derides as the "dumbest ... guy on the planet."

"No one could deny Feith's academic achievements," Franks writes. "But Feith was a theorist whose ideas were often impractical."

Franks also writes:

Bush has "the natural leader's ability to put his subordinates at ease." Franks describes how Bush gave the final order on March 19, 2003, to invade Iraq.

Saddam was fooled into thinking the United States would attack Iraq from Turkey, even after that country said it would not allow any assault from their territory.

The United States got a "nasty surprise" when Saddam suddenly sent in paramilitary Fedayeen from Baghdad who nearly stymied the assault on Iraq.

He regrets Rumsfeld's Pentagon and Powell's State Department could not work together better. "On far too many occasions the ... bureaucracy fought like cats in a sack," he writes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001994553&zsection_id=268448413&slug=franks02&date=20040802

[Sir Jackie Chiles]

I'm pretty sure that


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

as well as


CASE CLOSED


and several other gems are not (c) Gen. Franks or someone else, but

(c) TRADER JORGE


;)

[Deckard]

Originally posted by basso
btw, do your efforts in this thread, wherein you spend so much time and energy trying to discredit an event that has no national import whatsoever other than recognizing the efforts of our military, entitle you to be recognized as ashlee simpson for a day?

"...trying to discredit an event that has no national import whatsoever other than recognizing the efforts of our military"
~basso

No national import?? Come on! The whole thing was staged to have a national political impact, and to improve the standing of the President. Sometimes I wonder how you can type this stuff with a straight face, basso.

(hell, maybe you don't! ;) )

[Mulder]

Originally posted by Sir Jackie Chiles
I'm pretty sure that


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

as well as


CASE CLOSED


and several other gems are not (c) Gen. Franks or someone else, but

(c) TRADER JORGE


;)

I'll take "phrases that indicate perpetual denial" for $200 Alex.

[SamFisher]

Originally posted by basso
btw, do your efforts in this thread, wherein you spend so much time and energy trying to discredit an event that has no national import whatsoever other than recognizing the efforts of our military, entitle you to be recognized as ashlee simpson for a day?

Well, bass, you brought it up, so apparently it's important to somebody -- but anyway it's obvious the arrogance that was on display that day is emblematic, and the cause, of a great many matters (and tragedies) of national import, past, present, and future.

Ashlee for a day? Only if her sister would hang out with me in her underwear.

[basso]

Originally posted by SamFisher


Ashlee for a day? Only if her sister would hang out with me in her underwear.

why would you wear ashlee's sister's underwear?

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally posted by basso
why would you wear ashlee's sister's underwear?

Cuz they're clean and he hasn't done the laundry in a while!:D

[SamFisher]

Originally posted by basso
why would you wear ashlee's sister's underwear?

To get them off her.