Editing Tommy Franks (section)

====Weapons of mass destruction====
According to ''Time'' magazine, on 21 November 2003, Franks said that in the event of another terrorist attack, American constitutional liberties might be discarded by popular demand in favor of a military state. Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the US in the wake of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], Franks said that "the worst thing that could happen" is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties. If that happens, Franks said, "... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy." Franks then offered "in a practical sense" what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.

"It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world&nbsp;– it may be in the United States of America&nbsp;– 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."

"[No] one in this country probably was more surprised than I when weapons of mass destruction were not used against our troops as they moved toward Baghdad," said Franks on 2 December 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1177570.htm|title=Retired general 'surprised' no WMD found|first=Joby|last=Warrick|work=CNN|date=16 August 2004|access-date=22 June 2011}}</ref>