Retired general (Franks) pushes for more U.S. spies

[Justice]

Article to Be in Parade Magazine on Sunday

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/29/franks.interview/index.html

The retired general who led U.S. troops into war in Afghanistan and Iraq bemoans the lack of international aid in toppling Iraq's dictator and criticizes U.S. investment in surveillance widgets instead of human spies.

Franks, who retired last summer four months after the United States invaded Iraq, reportedly expresses his shock at not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and disappointment that more foreign troops were not a part of the war effort.

U.S. war planners expected 150,000 additional troops to aid the U.S.-led operation, Franks says in the interview, but the help never came. The British report concludes that the low number of foreign troops deployed to Iraq has contributed to the deterioration in security.



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1. Wesley Clark always says that republicans love weapons not people - that republican's strong national defense reputation is false - that their love is for weapons (money for defense contractors) not troops (pay, housing, benefits, veteran's benefits etc). Franks seems to be echoiing that here.

2. Echoes others (Myers) recognition that more troops were needed - not just more but DOUBLE the number that were there.

3. Seems like he is going to go after Richard Clarke - have to read the article to understand what he is really saying. Can't help but wonder from the spinnet though why Clarke is singled out. What about the CIA, what about OSP?

[theHandpuppet]

1. Now there's a thought...

... as long as they start by placing a few spies in the office of Dick Cheney so the full measure of their corruption can be exposed to the American people. After all, if BushCo and Asscraft think it's perfectly all right to demand a list of books we're reading at the library, why shouldn't we know what felons Cheney meets with behind closed doors?

[lapfog_1]

2. Uh, Gen Franks...

we spent a Buttload of $$$ on Mr. Chalabi. He and his network
were supposed to be our eyes and ears on the ground in Iraq, both
before and after the war. And, of course, you know how good the
info we got from him was. That it went totally unvetted by other
assets from any of our TLA (three letter agencies) and got "Stove
piped" to the top without any analysis is inexcusable. But human
intel is only as good as the humans and the intelligence therein.
In the case of Iraq, the humans had bad intent (both the providers
of intelligence and the consumers of intelligence), and damn little
intelligent thought went into analyzing any of it.

More spies are not necessarily the answer.