Remember: Gen. Tommy Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack

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Wed, 27 Oct 2004 04:01:41 -0400

Subject:Gen. Tommy Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack

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Gen. Tommy Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack

 

 

 

Remember this when you Vote Nov. 2 !!!

 

Address: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.