Soldier In Iraq

Tommy Franks: From Soldier's General To US Citizen Newsweek - 3 hours ago Then, suddenly, it seemed, soldiers closed in on Iraq's capital, took the airport and entered Baghdad with much less opposition from Iraqi forces than had ...

Last December, when NEWSWEEK chose Gen. Tommy Franks as a person to watch in its Who's Next feature, most people recognized him as the man who headed up military efforts against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. But it wasn't until the war in Iraq that Franks acquired the celebrity status of Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, the unforgettable commander of the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Now Franks is at least as well known as Schwarzkopf, maybe even more so. Franks's rise to heroic figure during the past year hasn't been an altogether smooth one. Early in February, news reports revealed that he was being investigated by the Pentagon inspector general. The most serious of the allegations questioned whether Franks had let his wife, Cathy, listen to conversations in which classified information was discussed. The general was eventually exonerated, a spokesperson from Central Command recently told NEWSWEEK, and as Washington geared up for a possible war, the controversy faded. Meanwhile, the debate over Iraq continued, even as the attacks on Baghdad began. In late March, after the initial "shock and awe" airstrikes segued into a steady stream of troops moving from the south toward Baghdad, questions arose over the number of troops on the ground and whether they were adequately supplied. Several days into the war, as U.S. troops faced fiercer opposition than expected in the south, critics began blasting Franks, secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration. Then, suddenly, it seemed, soldiers closed in on Iraq's capital, took the airport and entered Baghdad with much less opposition from Iraqi forces than had been anticipated. No weapons of mass destruction were used--or ever found. And most of the senior Iraqi officials and the Iraqi Republican Guard--which war planners thought might put up a final front of tough resistance--seemed to evaporate. In a made-for-TV moment broadcast time and time again on American television, Iraqis attempted to topple a statue of Saddam Hussein in a show of contempt for the Iraqi leader. By early May, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, and Franks was credited with a bold success. The fall of Baghdad, which had been expected to take perhaps several months, had occurred in only a matter of weeks. The loss of American lives was kept to a minimum. The plan, Rumsfeld said, had been brilliantly executed. Forever etched in the minds of Americans: a photo of Gen. Tommy Franks, sitting on a couch in one of Saddam's palaces and smoking cigars with his staff. These days, American soldiers come under continued attack in Baghdad, Franks no longer takes the heat. In August he retired as commander of CENTCOM, leaving his job to Gen. John Abizaid. Franks, who now lives in Florida, has a book deal with HarperCollins for his memoirs and is on the lecture circuit. Franks can still stir up controversy: in a recent interview with the magazine Cigar Aficionado, Franks suggested that another large-scale terrorist attack would undermine basic constitutional freedoms in the United States. Clearly, the general hasn't lost his edge.