In 1968, Franks returned to Fort Sill, where he commanded a cannon battery in the Artillery Training Center. In 1969, he was selected to participate in the Army's "Boot Strap Degree Completion Program", and subsequently attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he finished his bachelor's degree in 1971. Following attendance at the Artillery Officer Advanced Course, he was assigned to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in West Germany in 1973, where he commanded the 1st Squadron Howitzer Battery and served as Squadron S-3. He also commanded the 84th Armored Engineer Company, and served as Regimental Assistant S-3 during this tour.
Franks, after graduating from the Armed Forces Staff College, was posted to The Pentagon in 1976, where he served as an Army Inspector General in the Investigations Division. In 1977 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, Army where he served on the Congressional Activities Team, and subsequently as an Executive Assistant.
Franks' initial general officer assignment was Assistant Division Commander (Maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. During 1991–1992, he was assigned as Assistant Commandant of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill. In 1992, he was assigned to Fort Monroe, Virginia as the first Director, Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force, Office of Chief of Staff of the Army, a position held until 1994 when he was reassigned to South Korea as the CJG3 of Combined Forces Command and United States Forces Korea.
Critics of Franks' tenure as commander of United States forces in Afghanistan cite his failure to deploy 800 United States Army Rangers to the Battle of Tora Bora as a key factor in allowing Osama bin Laden to escape into Pakistan. Peter Bergen, a prominent journalist and expert on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, described Franks' decision as "one of the greatest military blunders in recent US history," which allowed al-Qaeda to recover and begin to mount an insurgency.[5] Franks defended his decision with the support of other prominent US military leaders, citing a lack of conclusive evidence that bin-Laden was at Tora Bora,[6] but Bergen and other critics, including the Delta Force commander at Tora Bora, Dalton Fury, claimed that the evidence that bin-Laden was present at the battle was very robust; Fury claimed that his team came within 2,000 meters of bin Laden's suspected position, but withdrew because of uncertainty over the number of al-Qaeda fighters guarding bin Laden and a lack of support from allied Afghan troops.[7]
Gen. Franks touring the ruins of one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in April 2003
Authors suggest that Franks was worn down by repeated pressure from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to reduce the number of U.S. troops in war plans and cancel the deployment of the 1st Cavalry Division, a scheduled follow-on unit that was slated for deployment in April 2003.[8] More generally, they argue Franks' command was somewhat understandably focused on the immediate task in front of it– defeating Saddam Hussein and taking Baghdad– and few were willing to divert resources away from that effort and toward the long-term post-war needs.[9]
The writers also question his decision during the war to keep sealift ships carrying the equipment for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at sea instead of bringing the equipment ashore in Kuwait sooner so the division could have entered Iraq earlier than it did to add to the force levels in post-war Iraq. Franks argues that by keeping the ships at sea the Iraqis were deceived into believing a U.S. attack was yet to come from the north through Turkey, though Colin Powell and others have questioned his view.[10]
Franks wanted to retire after the major combat phase of the war, tired from planning and prosecuting two major wars and leading the overall war on terrorism since September 2001. As a result, Gordon and Trainor argue he was slow to act during the crucial months following the fall of Baghdad. They suggest there was a leadership void at U.S. Central Command because his two deputies, Michael Delong and John Abizaid, were at odds with each other until Abizaid succeeded Franks in the middle of the summer of 2003. Delong retired with a bitter taste in his mouth and wrote his own book regarding the leadership failures in the headquarters. They also note that there was a command transition in Iraq as V Corps and General Ricardo Sanchez took command of U.S. forces in Iraq without being fully resourced and trained for the mission in advance.[11]
In Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, veteran defense and Pentagon reporter Thomas E. Ricks echoes criticism from officers who had served under Franks who put forth that, while tactically sound, he lacked the strategic mindset and overall intellect necessary for the task. Some close to him argued he was more thoughtful than he seemed, was aware that Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff were unable to discuss the Iraq War in military terms and had an obligation to put forth stronger objections to the civilian control of military planning. While demanding and goal oriented he was also criticized for being unwilling to countenance alternate viewpoints and for detaching himself from day-to-day affairs when the ground war ceased and he prepared for retirement.[citation needed]
Weapons of mass destruction
According to Time magazine, on 21 November 2003, Franks said that in the event of another terrorist attack, American constitutional liberties might be discarded by popular demand in favor of a military state. Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the US in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, 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."
"[No] one in this country probably was more surprised than I when weapons of mass destruction were not used against our troops as they moved toward Baghdad," said Franks on 2 December 2005.[12]
Since 2003, Franks has operated Franks & Associates LLC, a private consulting firm, active in the disaster recovery industry. In June 2006, General Franks formed a partnership with Innovative Decon Solutions.[14]
Following his retirement, Franks published his memoirs in American Soldier,[15] which debuted as Number #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in August 2004,[3] displacing President Bill Clinton's memoir from the top spot. One reviewer praised General Franks recollections of his Vietnam service but opined that the book, like the plan for and execution of the Iraq war itself, he said, "begins better than it ends." The reviewer expressed the wish that Franks had "relied less on the official record and more on his own experience and memories" in recalling the later war, as he had in recalling the earlier one.[16]
Speaking at the Republican Convention in New York on 31 August 2004, Franks endorsed President George W. Bush for re-election.[17] President Bush awarded Franks the country's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 14 December 2004.[3] In the same month, Franks became a spokesman for Teen Arrive Alive, which is a company that uses GPS in cellular phones to tell parents how fast their teenage children are driving.
In December 2005, Franks was appointed to the Bank of Americaboard of directors, a position he held until resigning on 11 June 2009 for unspecified reasons but as part of an "exodus" of ten directors from April to August, 2009. The bank had received $45 billion of U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding and sustained dramatic losses starting in 2008.[18]
Franks sits on the board of directors of the National Park Foundation. He is an advisor to the Central Command Memorial Foundation and the Military Child Education Coalition, and is a spokesman for the Southeastern Guide Dogs Organization.[3]
Additionally he sits in the board of trustees for William Penn University, a university founded and supported by the Society of Friends (Quakers).
In January 2008, ABC News and the Army Times reported on Franks' involvement with the charitable Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, which he charged $100,000 to use his name to raise money for wounded soldiers. Following Congressional investigators and watchdog groups' criticism because only 25% of the money found its way to wounded veterans, compared to the industry standard of 85%, Franks ended his support for the group in late 2005. Roger Chapin, president of the charity, and his wife had apparently been living a lavish lifestyle on the charity's money.[20][21][22][23]Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's Face the Nation, criticized Franks, saying, "What kind of person would insist, or even allow himself, to be paid to raise money for those who were wounded while serving under him? Franks says he severed his connection to the fundraiser when he realized most of the money he helped raise went to the fundraiser, not the troops."[24]
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↑ Tommy Franks (2004), "American Soldier," 49-56. Franks writes on page 49 that he had "lugged my duffle bag under the steel arch topped with the sign reading "Robinson Barracks, United States Army Artillery Officer Cadet School."
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