Topic: Iraq
Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar, and sometimes not...

Well, sometimes you find news in the oddest places - here from the magazine Cigar Aficionado by way of the NewsMax, the somewhat shrill far-to-the-right-of-most-ultraconservative-Republicans news service. General Tommy Franks gave Cigar Aficionado an interview, and heck, he led the successful war to take over and occupy Iraq. So he must know a thing or two.

Interesting observations from the General? Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government. Well, that is possible.

Being pessimistic, or realistic depending on your mood, he says "the worst thing that could happen" is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.

"It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world - it may be in the United States of America - that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important."

And Franks ends with this: "It's not in the history of civilization for peace ever to reign. Never has in the history of man. ... I doubt that we'll ever have a time when the world will actually be at peace."

You'll have to buy a hard copy of Cigar Aficionado to read the whole interview.

A detailed summary with many more quotes in here:
Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack
John O. Edwards, NewsMax.com Friday, Nov. 21, 2003