Retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who served as commander of the U.S. Central Command from 2000 through July 2003, led the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq. He discusses his life and career in a new book, American Soldier, released this week. The following are excerpts from an interview he conducted with Nightline's Ted Koppel.
(snip)
KOPPEL: I want to take you back to an anecdote you tell in your book in which you say, in effect, when the president ended up on the carrier out there saying that major combat was over, that was you? You did that?
FRANKS: Yeah. I, I, I confess I did that, Ted. It's a, it's a sort of an interesting thing. I think initially reporting was pretty simplistic about, well, you know, there's great jubilation and joy, and, and so the president lands on the carrier and says, "Well, major combat operations have been completed."
And factually, I had recommended to
Secretary Don Rumsfeld several days before that that the president make such an announcement for a couple of reasons, actually. One reason was that I wanted all the troops who had been working hard on the ground in combat in Iraq to get some sense of closure. You know, the statue was down and Saddam was no longer in charge of Iraq, and I thought closure for the troops was a good thing, perhaps a bit selfish on my part.
(snip)
KOPPEL: And I assume you didn't paint the banner that said "mission accomplished" either?
FRANKS: No, but I would have agreed with it, and as I looked at the president's comments on the 1st of May, I thought, "Good for him, good for him," and I appreciated that, that he did what he did.
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http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/US/koppel_franks_040802-1.html
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