Franks isn’t Omar Bradley

Bradley commanded one of the bloodier days of WWII, D-day. The troops that stormed ashore at Omaha, Normandy, and the other landing beaches suffered enormous casualties. Even in the face of such carnage, the troops could be assured that Bradley was working mightily to reduce those numbers. That is why even until the end of WWII and after, Bradley was known as the “GIs General,” he cared about them.

Flash forward to March 31, 2003

In the face of unexpected and stiff resistance of the Iraqi Fedayeen forces, General McKiernan made the command decision that the mad rush to Baghdad would be paused, so that the supply lines could be secured. That decision did not set well with Rumsfeld, Bush or Franks. Even though the intelligence, that assured McKiernan that the Iraqi forces would give up in mass and that Saddam would fall within the first few hours, proved to be so much “wooly-headed thinking,” Franks was demanding that McKiernan push on and that the Fedayeen were no threat whatsoever. To reinforce his demands on March 31, 2003 Franks was in Kuwait to meet face to face with McKiernan.

The exchange between Franks and McKiernan, with McKiernan’s staff, was hostile.

“The most striking moment of the meeting came when Franks said he did not want to hear about casualties, even though no one had mentioned any. At that point, he put his hand to his mouth and made a yawning motion, as if to suggest that some casualties were not of major consequence to the attack.” (COBRAII page 325)

As I started, Franks is not Omar Bradley.

He needs to admit that he f*%ked up royally and due to political inspired incompetence, hundreds, if not thousands of Americans lost their lives. The most insulting thing is that continues to carry water for this bunch. Average people aren't stupid and clearly see what's going on and can deduce the reason why.