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Shock and Awe
Tom Ricks and I were just sitting around the office wondering what Tommy Franks was doing these days when Nate Fick piped up to mention that he is running a stud farm in Oklahoma in addition to overseeing something called the Tommy Franks Leadership Institute and Museum. I swear I am not making this up -- nor am I making up the fact that two of the prize stallions on the Franks stud farm are named "Shock" and "Awe."
Readers, sometimes my formidable powers of irony and sarcasm simply fail me. I am both shocked and awed. You guys are on your own here. And whoever sends me a Tommy Franks koozie for my birthday rules.
I feel like being rude. But
I feel like being rude. But in respect of the new colours, I wont.
Images 11 -13 Museum Photo
Images 11 -13 Museum Photo Gallery. We need a caption contest. And instead of a koozie, how about requesting the road show for CNAS?
And did I see in the exhibits a replica of the pack he dropped In Iraq sometime around, oh well, 1 May 2003?
Shock: "The traveling Road
Shock:
"The traveling Road Show is one of two major Phase II projects of the General Tommy Franks Leadership Institute (the other being I Debate). The Road Show will bring traveling exhibits to middle school students (initially across Oklahoma and Texas) beginning September of 2008.
"Exhibit content will include selected items from museum archives. Examples of the exhibits include: Bedouin jewelry, knives and swords from Yemen, rugs from Afghanistan, & military uniforms.
"Partners that have made this project possible include Oklahoma Christian University, Design Werks, National Center for Policy Analysis, Musco Lighting and contributions from individuals like you."
I signed up CNAS as a destination for the traveling Tommy Franks' "Road Show." You have to be there to let them in.
I'm intrigued by the Jambiyah display, so take photos.
Having been a passenger on Tommy Franks' "Road Show" to Baghdad in 2003, I shall advise you to just skip the section on the bus showcasing, beneath the mushroom cloud sign, all those WMDs framed so beautifully by Musco Lighting.
I don't know where to
I don't know where to start.
Does he have any mares named Iraq? What state is she currently in?
One shudders to think what 'catastrophic success' looks/smells/feels like in this context - finishing the mission quicker than expected, but not having enough suitable equipment or manpower at hand to clean up the mess.
Aye caramba.
Stunned and Astonished, we
Stunned and Astonished, we obviously share a genius for the right idea.
You win a Tommy Franks' koozie. If you want the eagle, you've got to pony up the two bits extra.
Submitted without
Submitted without comment:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marian.pfenning/GenTommyFranksLeadershipInst...
In microcosm, the Polo Step
In microcosm, the Polo Step invasion plan:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marian.pfenning/GenTommyFranksLeadershipInst...
"This display case contains
"This display case contains a sampling of the world's largest collection of Challenge Coins."
http://picasaweb.google.com/marian.pfenning/GenTommyFranksLeadershipInst...
This is fitting because no one was more challenged at COIN than Tommy "Effin" Franks.
SNLII, I'll take you up on
SNLII,
I'll take you up on your offer. I can now start counting my burgeoning koozie collection at one. Now if the museum had a live bear, not a stuffed one I could respect that.
http://www.thefort.com/History/SissyBear/SissyBear.htm
Everyone should have an uncle with their own bear.
When I was a mere tyke in my
When I was a mere tyke in my rustic abode, Boondoggle, I would travel in the summers to the capital for the annual State Fair.
Every year would be the caged bear, watered during those hot afternoons with bottled sodas, handed through the bars, by half-drunk hayseeds on their way to the carnival midway. Sometimes, they would fetch the bear a beer, too.
There's something about this recollection that is redolent of COIN, Iraq and, perhaps, marriage.
Hey, hes got a pretty nice
Hey, hes got a pretty nice setup.
http://picasaweb.google.com/marian.pfenning/GenTommyFranksLeadershipInst...
I spent the day at the
I spent the day at the agricultural field days yesterday. watched a vivid demonstation of some farm equipment at one stand.
did not think i would be posting a link about it here today.
http://www.shoof.co.nz/AUS/auscatalogue/page_21.pdf
If there is an equine
If there is an equine equipment relevance to the metaphor I suggest Tommy supports the delayed method.
This portion of the GEN
This portion of the GEN Franks' biography surprised me:
"General Franks' retirement was announced on May 22, 2003. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly offered him the position of Army Chief of Staff, but he declined."
As many issues as we may have with GEN Franks, compared to what the Army eventually wound up with when Peter Schoomaker was named Army Chief of Staff (CSA), Franks looks like a downright inspired choice by comparison.
Believe it or not, I feel that despite his (many and well documented) faults, GEN Franks would have been a better CSA for the Army - as an institution - than the guy who actually got the job.
This is Awe, the twin of
This is Awe, the twin of Shock:
http://www.4starranch.net/images/longhornsforsale/awe.gif
I liked the random unlabeled
I liked the random unlabeled photes, the stupid tee-shirts, and the rest, but my favorite part is this:
Quote
"Freedom is not free."
- General Tommy Franks (Ret.)
Is it his quote because he went with "is not" instead of isn't?
I think we're missing the
I think we're missing the most important question here: How and why the hell did Fick know that Franks was raising horses in Oklahoma?
You want shock and awe?
You want shock and awe? Here's shock and awe.
You want shock and awe?
You want shock and awe? Here's shock and awe.
I'm sorry,but I can't afford
I'm sorry,but I can't afford to feed my family much less two horses.So I can't relate to the General.
Franks is an incompetent
Franks is an incompetent military commander who was willing to bow down before Rumsfeld. Shameful.
Whatever mistakes Franks
Whatever mistakes Franks made, and I will concede he made more than a few, is denigrating a man who gave 36 years to the Army really the best thing we can think of to discuss on this blog? I guess the rest of you are all bigger men because you can make fun of someone anonymously on the internet, but I'm not really interested in that. This blog and its commenters are getting more tiresome and nasty and less interesting.
yes, because its much nicer
yes, because its much nicer to mock him than to demand he be strung up from a lamp post, which is what a lot of people actually think.
Even Patton didn't open his
Even Patton didn't open his own museum.
Shock and Awe were Tommy’s
Shock and Awe were Tommy’s game;
Shock and Awe made Tommy’s name.
Now Tommy’s gone to run a stud,
Talk leadership and chew the cud.
But Shock and Awe still get his votes,
He named them stallions; turns out they’re goats.
Re: visitor 11:52 - That's
Re: visitor 11:52 -
That's like saying we shouldn't denigrate the Chicago cop who gave twenty years to the CPD and finished it by beating a female waitress half his size.
Franks mistakes were colossal, and he's spent his post-military career defending the Bush administration in the political arena and himself, and runs a leadership museum - showing off himself and raising money off the star power of a phase (2001-2003) in which his incompetence got many people killed unnecessarily.
So as long as he's profiting off his F-ups, I think it's not too evil of us to rip him for it.
Matt
And even better, the museum
And even better, the museum appears to be in Hobart, Oklahoma. Quite the cultural center.
Wow people - he's not
Wow people - he's not raising HORSES, he's raising longhorn! The guy up there even provided a picture. Do people not know the difference between animals anymore -- not a stud farm: http://www.4starranch.net/index.html.
Awe, twin of Shock, appears on the list of longhorns for sale, not stallions: http://www.4starranch.net/longhornsforsale.htm
In any case, the guy and his cohorts are despicable. I cannot wait until they step foot off this continent and are tried as War Criminals.
Other than participate in a
Other than participate in a war, and probably follow orders to not plan for Phase IV (occupation, by whatever name) of Iraq - orders that probably came from his boss Rumsfeld- what "war crimes" did he and his "cohorts" (his staff?) commit?
By the phrase "I cannot wait until they step foot off this continent and are tried as War Criminals."
May I infer that you are on this continent, and probably American?
You can't wait until your policy/political opponents are in jail? You can't wait until America becomes a fascist banana Republic, thus ending it's chief exceptional exceptionlism? And you're such a pussy you want foreigners to do it?
Well in that America I can't wait till we start censoring the press and stringing up traitors during wartime. Or peacetime. That comes with the new model you can't wait for.
Perhaps some can't wait until we start blasting away at each other as we "join the rest of the world". That's usually a built in feature as well.
Maybe instead we should remain arrogantly exceptional, keep the peaceful transfer of political power. That would come with a price however of not putting your political opponents in jail as part of your electoral victory dance. You can't have everything, although by overreaching you can always lose what you have.
No Franks fan, BTW.
This is revealing. Shock and
This is revealing.
Shock and Awe is a long-used strategy. The key element is to inflict damage, cause confusion, and in net effect make a lot of profit (real money laundering into corruption, bribes etc... we all know how those contracts are made in warzones.)
Now If a general is purposley using such a strategy, he must be FULLY aware of WHAT exactly the troopers are doing "out there". This includes committing war crimes, and we all have learned how it goes from Vietnam.
And this brings me to the next question - and no, it does not focus on Tommy Franks solely - how much responsibility need they share for possible committed atrocities?
The USA is not committed to bring any potential warcriminal who is also U.S. citizen to international court, simply because the USA has refused to ackknowledge any international court.
So who will bring justice to the USA?
Damn, you can buy Shock and
Damn, you can buy Shock and Awe? Would make brilliant pets.
While there is plenty of
While there is plenty of criticism to go around, one thing Franks is not, is a war criminal. This war, no matter what you think of how good (or bad, or terrible) an idea it was to invade Iraq, there was nothing illegal about it. The UN had enough nebulously written resolutions that you could drive a legal truck through (from any angle both for and and against the use of force) and then the most important thing (for US citizens) Congress approved the use of force. You may vehemently disdain the war, you may rightfully criticize the inflated, and sometimes false facts about nonexistant WMD's that formed the basis for the invasion, but calling people like General Franks a war criminal is not only preposterous, it detracts from any legitimately grounded arguments against the war in Iraq, of which there are more than enough to go around.
And to be fair, shock and awe did accomplish what it set out to do, remove Sadaam from power, and eliminate his conventional forces. Only problem was that was the first 5 minutes of the first act of a 4 act play.
I will now resume my normal programming.
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