Friday, May 05, 2006

War Critic Confuses Generals

I'm no "senior lecturer, Department of War Studies, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England", but even I know the difference between General Fred Franks of the 1st Gulf War, and Gen. Tommy Franks of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In an article entitled General botched both Gulf wars, Kristian C. Gustafson got it wrong:

It should come as no surprise that General Tommy Franks was at least partly responsible for the failure of the U.S. to establish stability in post-war Iraq. This is because 2003 was not the first time that General Franks botched a military operation in Iraq.
In 1991, Franks was the general officer commanding VII Corps in the First Gulf War. There he quickly proved not only to be well beyond his own competence level, but also overly cautious and lacking in initiative.


Wrong in the column and wrong about the war. Both Franks are great leaders and American heroes.