CA-full Franks Interview(Not Newsmax)

[slaveplanet]

I know the Newsmax article has been covered. This is the original,
use it for context-

Cigar Aficionado's Interview with General Tommy Franks
 
"General Tommy Franks"
Cigar aficionado
December 2003

The date, 9/1 1, was coincidental. It was the only day in September when the schedule of Gen. Tommy Franks meshed with that of CIGAR AFICIONADO editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken. But the somber anniversary served as the perfect backdrop for the first post-retirement interview granted by General Franks. It was a day marked by his own observations of small groups of Americans waving flags along the byways of Tampa, Florida, his hometown, and the ever-present yellow ribbons tied to telephone poles and palm trees on the city's avenues. Franks served his country for 37 years, earning three Purple Hearts for wounds received and, over his career, three
Bronze Stars for valor. He climbed up the ranks of the U.S. Army, enlisting after a short stay at the University of Texas in the 1960s and finally reaching one of the highest posts in the military, the head of Central Command. He is a soldier's general, a man who chose throughout his career to spend time in the field, mastering his chosen career first- hand, not in a classroom or some think tank. He earned high accolades as a commander in the first Persian Gulf war in 1991, and worked hard throughout the 1990s to restructure and modernize the U.S. military. He was in charge of CentCom in 2001 when Osama bin Laden's terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
< page 76>
and he led the planning and execution of the attacks on Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq in March 20,03. He retired on August 1, 2003.
His comments and answers reflect the beliefs of a man who truly loves his country, and one who fought for the principles established by the founding fathers more than 200 years ago. He addresses directly questions about the search for bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. In the interview with Shanken, he also touches on his opinion about how history will judge George W. Bush, and the prospects for a world without war and terrorism.
CIGAR AFicioNADo: What is today's date?
Gen. Tommy Franks: It's the second anniversary of 9/1 1.
CA: When you got up this morning, what was your mood?
Gen. Franks: Somber. Serious. I don't think for the past two years there have been too many days when most Americans didn't at some point during the day either experience the result of 9/11/01, or pause and think a little bit about 9/11/01; where they were, what they were doing. And I know that's been the case for me. It's been the case for my family. It has been the cause of a lot of friendships and associations. So, this morning I got up and it was somber. As I drove to work this morning down Bayshore Boulevard out here in the beautiful town of Tampa, all the palm trees and all the poles had yellow ribbons tied on them.
CA: That's beautiful.( snip - lot's more)

http://infowars.com/print/ps/franks.htm

[madfloridian]

1. Coming from a guy who thinks the deck of cards was wonderful......

it sounds as though he is not too worried about the possibility of losing the constitution.....like hey I like the constitution as well as the next guy kind of thing.

The interviewer's question is the most totally insipid part of this:
SNIP..."That goes to step number two, which is that 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. Now, in a practical sense, what does that mean? 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 potentially unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps: very, very important.

CA: If that's true, why have so many critics attacked the president of the United States and tried to diminish the work of the military?"

What a strange response to that question. And it is scary in its lack of understanding of the big issue.