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Texas Agriculture Archive

February 6, 2004

General Franks salutes farmers

By Stewart Truelsen

Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks walked to the front of the stage at the American Farm Bureau Convention in Hawaii. With American flags as the backdrop, Franks placed his hand on his heart and saluted the 7,000 Farm Bureau members.

"You are the backbone of America," he told the audience to thunderous applause. "It's a great country and you are it."

Until his retirement last year, Franks was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Franks was given orders to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan. He went on to lead the liberation of Iraq.

This great soldier who spent four decades in the Army and earned three Purple Hearts for combat wounds and three Bronze Stars for valor has not forgotten his rural roots in Oklahoma. He recalled for the audience the pleasures of riding a horse and hunting bullfrogs around the stock pond. Even "the smell of dirt" was a fond recollection for him.

The smells of Oklahoma dirt were certainly different than the smells of Vietnam's jungles, Afghanistan's mountains or Iraq's deserts. But Franks is back home now in the states, looking fit as ever and enjoying the opportunities to visit with folks like these, the farmers of America.

One might think that Franks would regale an audience with war stories and how difficult his job was. Instead he expressed concern for what the rest of us have gone through.

"The last two years of American history have been tough on you, on your kids, and on your brothers and sisters," he said. "When we saw those twin towers fall, we recognized the vulnerability of America, our free and open society, our way of life. And since that time, the world has come to recognize what a superpower on steroids looks like."

Not far from where Franks was speaking was another symbol of American resolve that followed tragedy, Pearl Harbor.

Franks has hopes for Iraq that include farm trade. He says 99 percent of the people there want to join the rest of the world in economic and social progress. News media coverage bothers him.

"The media would have us believe, if you look at the crawl on the bottom of CNN, that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and that there is never under any circumstances anything viable or realistically good going on in Iraq. I know better because I've been there."

Franks added that humanitarian efforts are just as important as weapons in securing the peace in Iraq, and he looks forward to the days when Iraq and Afghanistan can function on their own. But he says we must never let them harbor terrorists again.

Asked about agriculture at a news conference, the retired general said, "Agriculture has been a baseline in this country for a long, long time, and I don't think that's going to change."

There were many key moments at this convention, but the one that most Farm Bureau members will remember for a long, long time is Gen. Tommy Franks saluting them.

Stewart Truelsen is director of broadcast services for American Farm Bureau Federation.