Constitution will be discarded

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/20/185048.shtml

Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack

    John O. Edwards, NewsMax.com
    Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 

Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of 
mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will 
likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.

Franks, who successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, 
expressed his worries in an extensive interview he gave to the men’s 
lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado.

In the magazine’s December edition, the former commander of the military’s 
Central Command warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of 
mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it would 
likely have catastrophic consequences for our cherished republican form of 
government.

Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 
11, Franks said that “the worst thing that could happen” is if terrorists 
acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts 
heavy casualties.

If that happens, Franks said, “... 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.”

Franks then offered “in a practical sense” what he thinks would happen in 
the aftermath of such an attack.

“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 unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, 
very important.”

Franks didn’t speculate about how soon such an event might take place.

Already, critics of the U.S. Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in the 
wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, have argued that the law aims to curtail 
civil liberties and sets a dangerous precedent.

But Franks’ scenario goes much further. He is the first high-ranking 
official to openly speculate that the Constitution could be scrapped in 
favor of a military form of government.

The usually camera-shy Franks retired from U.S. Central Command, known in 
Pentagon lingo as CentCom, in August 2003, after serving nearly four 
decades in the Army.

Franks earned three Purple Hearts for combat wounds and three Bronze Stars 
for valor. Known as a “soldier’s general,” Franks made his mark as a top 
commander during the U.S.’s successful Operation Desert Storm, which 
liberated Kuwait in 1991. He was in charge of CentCom when Osama bin 
Laden’s al-Qaeda attacked the United States on Sept. 11.

Franks said that within hours of the attacks, he was given orders to 
prepare to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan and to capture bin Laden.

Franks offered his assessment on a number of topics to Cigar Aficionado, 
including:

President Bush: “As I look at President Bush, I think he will ultimately be 
judged as a man of extremely high character. A very thoughtful man, not 
having been appraised properly by those who would say he’s not very smart. 
I find the contrary. I think he’s very, very bright. And I suspect that 
he’ll be judged as a man who led this country through a crease in history 
effectively. Probably we’ll think of him in years to come as an American 
hero.”

On the motivation for the Iraq war: Contrary to claims that top Pentagon 
brass opposed the invasion of Iraq, Franks said he wholeheartedly agreed 
with the president’s decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein.

“I, for one, begin with intent. ... There is no question that Saddam 
Hussein had intent to do harm to the Western alliance and to the United 
States of America. That intent is confirmed in a great many of his 
speeches, his commentary, the words that have come out of the Iraqi regime 
over the last dozen or so years. So we have intent.

“If we know for sure ... that a regime has intent to do harm to this 
country, and if we have something beyond a reasonable doubt that this 
particular regime may have the wherewithal with which to execute the 
intent, what are our actions and orders as leaders in this country?”

The Pentagon’s deck of cards: Asked how the Pentagon decided to put its 
most-wanted Iraqis on a set of playing cards, Franks explained its genesis. 
He recalled that when his staff identified the most notorious Iraqis the 
U.S. wanted to capture, “it just turned out that the number happened to be 
about the same as a deck of cards. And so somebody said, ‘Aha, this will be 
the ace of spades.’”

Capturing Saddam: Franks said he was not surprised that Saddam has not been 
captured or killed. But he says he will eventually be found, perhaps sooner 
than Osama bin laden.

“The capture or killing of Saddam Hussein will be a near term thing. And I 
won’t say that’ll be within 19 or 43 days. ... I believe it is inevitable.”

Franks ended his interview with a less-than-optimistic note. “It’s not in 
the history of civilization for peace ever to reign. Never has in the 
history of man. ... I doubt that we’ll ever have a time when the world will 
actually be at peace.”

-- 
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