Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he “will not even consider” renaming military bases like Fort Hood or Fort Bragg. But perhaps it is still worth considering the possibilities of offering recruits more truth in advertising via modern names. The following suggestions were sent in to us at The Federalist as potential solutions for this thorny problem: Fort I Just Wanted Tuition Assistance Fort 100% Promotion Rate Fort 24% Interest Rate On A Camaro Fort Distract Everyone With New Uniforms Fort We’ve Been Using The Same Small Arms For Fifty Years But The Navy Needs A New Carrier Fort Don’t...

Phone interview [11:30am] between Neil Cavuto of FNC and retired US Army General Tommy Franks about the Shanksville Flight 93 Memorial.

Retired four-star Gen. Tommy Franks is lending his name and support to Senate candidate Michael Williams, a state railroad commissioner. Williams is running in a crowded GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R). Franks, who graduated from Midland High School a year ahead of former first lady Laura Bush, led U.S. forces into Afghanistan and Iraq. “As a retired military man, I don’t often get involved in political campaigns. But I decided that there’s a race going on in Texas that’s so important, that I just couldn’t stand on the sidelines,” Franks said in a statement. “Michael...

Apparently, long service in the military makes you an expert on kooky fun-houses. The company behind childrens' restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese picked retired four-star Gen. Tommy Franks to help them expand their brand. Franks was elected to the company's board of directors on March 26, CEC Entertainment said Monday. Franks, 62, served in the military for more than forty years before retiring in 2003, and now lives in Oklahoma. Franks has a private consulting firm, Franks & Associates, LLC. He serves on the board of directors of Bank of America and the National Park Foundation, and formerly served on...

In the first insider account of Pentagon decision-making on Iraq, one of the key architects of the war blasts former secretary of state Colin Powell, the CIA, retired Gen. Tommy R. Franks and former Iraq occupation chief L. Paul Bremer for mishandling the run-up to the invasion and the subsequent occupation of the country. Douglas J. Feith, in a massive score-settling work, portrays an intelligence community and a State Department that repeatedly undermined plans he developed as undersecretary of defense for policy and conspired to undercut President Bush's policies. Among the disclosures made by Feith in "War and Decision," scheduled...

Last Friday, The Washington Times reported that "three of the eight announced 2008 Republican presidential campaigns are considering retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks as their pick for vice presidential candidate." The Times did not say which three campaigns these were, but it is hard to imagine that lower-tier candidates, like Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul, are making up vice presidential short lists at this point. If three active candidates have Franks on their radar, there is a strong chance that top contenders like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee are among them. Fred Thompson, when he announces, could make...

PASADENA - He came, he saw, he talked. Former U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks bantered with the audience and also addressed controversial issues during his talk at Wednesday night Distinguished Speaker Series. Speaking at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Franks called Donald Rumsfeld a "small man with very sharp elbows" and described Osama bin Laden as someone "who deserve\ to die." He recounted tales from his childhood and his "misspent youth," and memories of growing up in Midland, Texas, "among the cactus and among the bushes." Franks attended the same high school a year ahead of first lady Laura Bush. He enlisted...

General Tommy Franks, the former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, tells NewsMax that he is squarely behind the controversial "surge" of troops. "The reason that I say this is a good idea is because that's what the leaders on the ground are saying," says Franks, speaking from Hobart, Okla., the future home of the General Tommy Franks Leadership Institute and Museum. As head of the U.S. Central Command, Franks oversaw American military operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East. He took the position in July 2000 and served until his...

To all Freepers and all Florida Voters, I issue my thoughts and feelings about this Florida Primary, a campaign of which I myself have no vote in ! --------------------------------------------------------- Congresswoman Katherine Harris has waged a long hard run for the GOP nomination for the seat of U.S. Senator from Florida, now occupied by incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson . As many of you on this forum know, Katherine lost her dear beloved father George Harris earliar this year . The loss of a father takes an emotional toll, even in the advanced years of one's life . I would say to...

MILWAUKEE - Those who count the increasing number of American soldiers killed in Iraq are missing the bigger picture, retired Gen. Tommy Franks said Saturday night. "What we're talking about is neither 2,400, 24,000 or 240,000 lives," Franks said at the National Rifle Association's annual banquet. "Terrorism is a thing that threatens our way of life. It doesn't have anything to do with politics." More than 2,400 soldiers have died since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, the plan for which Franks developed and executed. He also oversaw combat in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "I...

(CNSNews.com) - Tens of thousands of Second Amendment supporters and gun enthusiasts are flocking to downtown Milwaukee for the 135th annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, which begins on Friday. Retired Gen. Tommy Franks will give the keynote speech at the banquet on Saturday night. "The convention is a celebration of the American freedom we have to own firearms," Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, was quoted as saying. He described the convention as "an uplifting event on firearms, hunting, recreation shooting, collecting, self-defense, crime protection and defending our 2nd Amendment rights to own and bear arms." Press...

I sent a letter to Tommy Franks asking him to get into the Senate race a few weeks ago. His partner sent me back a really nice response that implied he was considering it. Please go to tommyfranks.com to encourage him to get into the race. We only have until Friday. With enough encouragement, maybe there's still time to defeat Bill Nelson. I wish Harris could do it, but I don't believe she can. The text of my email to him follows.

Who messed up Iraq? Donald Rumsfeld is the usual nominee. For conservative hawks, attacks on the U.S. Defence Secretary provide a way to attack the war without attacking the larger administration. And for liberal opponents of the war, attacks on Rumsfeld provide a way to attack the war without attacking the military that planned and executed that war. Now comes an important new book, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, by New York Times correspondent Michael Gordon and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Bernard Trainor. Their story bears hard on Rumsfeld. But it daringly...

As we all know 2006, will be a critical year. We may lose the majority. Every Senate seat is precious. We can't let the RATS control the Senate. In light of that, Bill Nelson is very vulnerable. But it is clear that as much as I love Katherine Harris, she cannot win. We need to draft General Franks, who will win. Who better to have than the General in the Senate to defend the war from idiots like Joe Biden? I know it seems unpractical, but there has not been a serious effort made. Maybe now is the time to...

Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf ('Baghdad Bob') THEN ...Al-Sahaf’s daily press briefings in the lead-up to the war and in its first weeks led to him being nicknamed Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali (an allusion to “Chemical Ali,” the nickname of former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid.) He gained a considerable cult following, with several Web sites devoted to his outrageous claims...as coalition troops stormed the capital, al-Sahaf declared, "The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad."... NOW On 25 June 2003, the London newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that al-Sahaf had been captured by coalition...

Gen. Tommy R. Franks climbed out of a C-130 plane at the Baghdad airport on April 16, 2003, and pumped his fist into the air. American troops had pushed into the capital of liberated Iraq little more than a week before, and it was the war commander’s first visit to the city. (snip) Huddling in a drawing room with his top commanders, General Franks told them it was time to make plans to leave. Combat forces should be prepared to start pulling out within 60 days if all went as expected, he said. By September, the more than 140,000 troops...

Tommy Franks Defends Dubai Ports Deal Former CENTCOM commanding general Tommy Franks said Wednesday that the Bush administration was right to approve a deal for a United Arab Emirates-based company to run six major U.S. ports. "We have more U.S. Navy ships using the port in Dubai, Jebel Ali, than any other port outside the United States," Franks told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." The former Iraq war commander explained U.S. reliance on the Dubai port facility by saying, "We know he difference between an enemy and a friend." "The Emirates is a friend," Franks aid. "That is the...

Finally, actress Alyssa Milano: "I went to Iraq on a USO tour. This was two months after the war was declared over. When we got on the ground, they started throwing us helmets and bulletproof vests. I'm wearing a little Prada shirt, you know. I wanted to look good for the boys. Basically, I was doing my service to the country. And so I put this vest on, which was about ten pounds, and this helmet and I go over to Tommy Franks, General Franks? And I said, 'I have to be honest with you. I'm freaking out a little...

Retired four-star Gen. Tommy Franks gave a rousing address Thursday night in support of the War on Terror, raising speculation about a possible political career in the near future or at least a more visible role in defense of President Bush. Franks, who oversaw military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq as head of U.S. Central Command, was honored by retired Lt. Col. Oliver North’s Freedom Alliance with its 2005 Defender of Freedom Award. “We believe that in this War on Terror we can fight them over there or we can fight them over here,” Franks told the group of Freedom...

Clinton's Failures In his speech before the Freedom Alliance, Franks didn’t hold back criticism of the Clinton Administration, specifically for its failure to respond to terrorist attacks against Americans. Among the reasons he cited for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon: The 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members; The first bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; The United States’ decision to leave Mogadishu, Somalia, in disgrace in 1993 following the deaths of 19 U.S. soldiers; The 1996 terrorist bombing of Khobar...