Entertainment, Books - Army Times

4-stars offer battle of words in revisiting war planning

What happens in the Tank, stays in the Tank.

Usually.

But in a new book about Gen. James Jones, former Marine Corps commandant and now NATO's supreme allied commander Europe and chief of U.S. European Command, Jones addresses retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who in his own book last year was sharply critical of Jones.

Now, the tiff between the two, which started in "the Tank," where senior military leaders meet for classified sessions in the Pentagon, has gone public.

Franks, former chief of U.S. Central Command and principal military planner of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, struck first in his book, "American Soldier," published in 2004, in which he had harsh words for Jones and others for, he said, thinking too parochially after the terrorist attacks and before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.

In his book, Franks compared Jones and then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark to a group of officers scrabbling for a bigger piece of the war-fighting pie instead of pushing as a team for a more-cohesive plan of attack.

Now, it's Jones' turn. In a fiery three-page passage in "Boys of '67," a new book about Jones and two other Marine generals, Marty Steele and Ray Smith, the former Marine commandant figuratively sticks his finger in Franks' chest. Jones, who was raised in France and is known for his political and media savvy, calls Franks' published recollections of prewar planning "flawed, self-serving and inaccurate." The book's author is Jones' first cousin, Charles Jones, a reporter for the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.

The dust-up stems from a meeting during the tense days of September 2001 before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. Franks, who as Central Command boss had come up with a plan for going after the Taliban, was asked to brief the plan to the Joint Chiefs, including Jones and Clark, as well as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

During the meeting, according to Franks, the Joint Chiefs began a fierce line of questioning. Each service chief, he said, pushed his own agenda: The Air Force argued for a war plan that leaned heavily on air power, the Army chief wanted as much land power, and Jones indicated the most-effective approach would be to use Marines.

"We endured half an hour of this aimless dialogue, a waste of time that neither the Secretary nor I could spare," Franks wrote. "I had not time for this parochial bull----."

With exasperation running high, the meeting ended abruptly. The next day, Jones asked Franks to his office, where he and Clark told Franks that they supported him and didn't want him to think they were being critical of his war planning. Franks angrily said that while he appreciated their input, he didn't appreciate how the two men appeared to be acting with so much self-interest.

"I want your advice as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, not as individual service chiefs scrabbling for the biggest piece of pie in this operation," Franks recalled in his book. "Yesterday in the Tank, you guys came across like a mob of Title Ten mother------s, not like the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thanks for hearing me out," Franks said before turning and leaving Jones' office.

According to Jones, that's not what happened. He, Franks and Clark never exchanged such fighting words, he said, describing Franks' version of history as simply an attempt to make himself look good.

Jones also was open about his concern that planning for the war in Iraq a year later was perhaps not as good as it could have been.

"Franks' performances gave us some humorous moments, for which we were grateful," Jones is quoted as saying in the book.

Asked about the flap March 6, Jones said his cousin's book has it right. A spokesman for Clark confirmed that the retired admiral agrees with the way the story was portrayed in the new book.

Jones ended up offering two Marine Expeditionary Units to help in the war in Afghanistan, an offer Franks accepted. The units combined to form Task Force 58, which later helped to claim victory against the Taliban.

"They made [Franks] look very good at a critical moment in the campaign," James Jones told his cousin. "One would never know it now, however."

‘Boys of 67: From Vietnam to Iraq, the Extraordinary Story of a Few Good Men.’ By Charles Jones. Stackpole Books. 416 pages. $29.95.