More Required Reading

The Swifts aren't the only vets with a new book. From the Washington Times' Inside The Ring

The military pundits' rap on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is that he dictates soldier-lite war plans to his combatant commanders, such as Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our sources have said for months that such unsubstantiated charges are untrue. The truth is that Mr. Rumsfeld offers overall guidance and uses catch phrases to send messages during war-planning conferences. But the plan, in the end, is the combatant commander's plan.

For example, Mr. Rumsfeld sent the message on the need for special operations in Iraq by repeatedly telling Gen. Franks to remember the lessons of Afghanistan, where covert warriors won the day. "Speed kills," he would tell Gen. Franks.

Now, Gen. Franks confirms all this in his memoir, "American Soldier."

The retired four-star general writes it was he who thought the off-the-shelf plan for Iraq was "too big, [400,000 troops] too slow and out-of-date." In December 2001, he presented Mr. Rumsfeld with a "Commander's Concept" that began the framework for the lightning-fast conquest of Baghdad.

"I told the secretary that I wanted to develop new options for Iraq, and he agreed," Gen. Franks writes, "From that point on it was clear: Don Rumsfeld was eager to be part of the solution."

Kidding, of course. The Washington Times crowd is notoriously right wing Republican, therefore not worth listening too anyway, right?

And the Washington Post?

Gen. Tommy Franks, who as head of U.S. Central Command presided over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has duly produced the expected autobiography. It is a good read, thanks to the work of veteran ghostwriter Malcolm McConnell; the early sections on Franks's blue-collar upbringing and Vietnam service are particularly affecting. But it has not made as much of a media splash as some other accounts of the administration, because it is not hostile to George W. Bush.

To the contrary, American Soldier rebuts some criticisms directed against the president. Bush has been accused, for instance, of taking his eye off Afghanistan by ordering the plan for a possible war with Iraq in the fall of 2001. Franks writes that, given the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, this was a sensible request, and that "our mission in Afghanistan never suffered" as a result.

Scores of pundits have accused the administration of lying, or at least distorting the evidence, about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But Franks reveals that the leaders of Egypt and Jordan told him that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons. Though no weapon of mass destruction was ever found, he writes, "I do not regret my role in disarming Iraq and removing its Baathist regime."

Another charge made against the administration is that political appointees failed to give the generals enough troops in either Afghanistan or Iraq. In fact, Franks writes, it was his own choice to employ limited forces in order to avoid getting bogged down. Instead of relying on sheer size, he thought surprise and speed were the keys to victory -- a judgment largely vindicated by events.

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Not all is sweetness and light in American Soldier. Franks comes off as a bit tetchy. He complains in particular when the Joint Chiefs of Staff get involved in any operational issues that lie outside their jurisdiction. He accuses the chiefs of being focused only on their "parochial" service concerns, of leaking secrets to the press, wasting his time and offering "gratuitous" advice. In one extraordinary episode, he cusses out the Navy and Marine chiefs, Adm. Vern Clark and Gen. James Jones, in language that can't be reprinted here.

Read the whole thing.