Feb 28 2006

Tommy Franks: Our Ally The UAE

Published by at 10:51 am under All General Discussions

Tony Snow had General Tommy Franks the other day (which I missed) but he replayed some of the discussion with new facts about The UAE efforts as our ally. This caused me to go do some research on Tommy Franks comments. The first two are what I heard (sorry, no transcripts yet).

(1) Tony Snow Show: The UAE provided the information and maps for our invasion of Afghanistan, specifically the Camp Rhino location. This allowed us to establish a safe location to take down the Taliban, and probably helped save the lives of our military forces. More here:

Gen. Tommy Franks notes that the UAE’s much-criticized “recognition” of the Taliban actually enabled the country to do first-rate spying. The UAE provided maps and information for the opening invasion of Afghanistan.

(2) Tony Snow Show: The UAE was one of the first to provide us fly-over rights to deal with Afghanistan and the Taliban, they also provided support for our airborne intelligence gathering resources.

(3) Hannity and Colmes: “With regard to maintaining contact with the Taliban, even before Sept. 11 — and I’ll exercise caution how I say this — but I’ll say that I believe we had every reason to be thankful for the relationship and the dialogue that existed between the United Arab Emirates and the Taliban, as it assisted us in our efforts to understand what was going on in Afghanistan.” Meaning where they were and their leadership and military structures.

(4) The UAE is ON THE GROUND with us in Iraq (from a previous link):

The UAE since has put troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, in active and humanitarian missions. It trains Iraqi forces on its soil. It lets the United States conduct flights through its airspace.
It has housed servicemen — and women — from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. It maintains the largest U.S. naval facility outside the United States, and Dubai Ports World performs contract service at the port.
Newsmax has a list of UAE support which the critics cannot possibly refute or present equivalently solid information:

  • Air Force U-2 spy planes and Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft have been based at the U.A.E.’s al-Dhafra air base, along with KC-10 aerial refueling planes. Al-Dhafra is said to have played a key role in both the Iraq and Afghanistan air wars.
  • U.S. sailors and Marines regularly make liberty calls at the port of Jebel Ali, near the U.A.E.’s largest city, Dubai. Former Iraq war commander Gen. Tommy Franks said Wednesday that Jebel Ali is “the best run port that I’ve ever seen.”
  • With the U.A.E. located directly across the Straits of Hormuz from Iran, Jebel Ali and al Dhafra offer the U.S. forward bases of operations should Tehran attempt to shut down the key waterway, which it threatened to do last month if sanctioned by the U.N.
  • Facts are tough things to refute with scary fairy tales.

    4 responses so far

    4 Responses to “Tommy Franks: Our Ally The UAE”

    1. MataHarley says:

      THANK YOU for this one, AJ.

      I heard some excerpts from Gen Franks on Tony Show’s radio show last week, and have been voraciously searching for some other appearances by him since. One would think that a media in quest for the truth of the UAE’s alliance in the WOT would be chomping at the bit to get him on. Yet the press apparently wants to bypass such close up perspective of the US and UAE in military matters after 911.

      Then again, you’d think they would have been standing in line to interview Georges Sada after his book, “Saddam’s Secrets”, hit the bookstores at the end of January too. A book where he gives account of 56 Boeing flights , under the guise of humanitarian efforts, out of Iraq carrying WMDs.

      But nooooooooo. The press just picks a stance on an issue, then bombards the airwaves with everything they can that appears to support it. The truth becomes collateral damage as a result.

      Just boggles the mind, eh?

    2. Kaz-Man says:

      The UAE enforces its boycott of Israel, but there really is nothing we can do about it. When Israel holds off terror attacks its economy does fine., anyway. It doesn’t need the UAE.
      That seems to be the latest card the anti-port dealers are playing. I think there is closer cooperation between the UAE and Israel than meets the eye (similar to Jordan).

    3. HaroldHutchison says:

      More facts.

      Why is it Frank Gaffney and Michelle Malkin insist on claiming they know more about the reliability of the United Arab Emirates than Tommy Franks?

    4. Larwyn says:

      ” not even wrong” memory doesn’t serve me source, but this
      observation was made on the promotion of some theory of
      physics.

      One the invasion of Iraq – the Dems are “not even wrong”!

      posted by Gateway Pundit at 2/28/2006 12:38:00 PM
      GatewayPudit – Saddam Signature on Orders of Execution

      Saddam’s Signature on Orders of Execution May Bring His Own

      A Saddam signed document showing confirmed executions was entered into evidence at the Trial of Saddam Hussein today. Some of the people were mistakenly released while some people were “executed by mistake!”

      RTWT