"As a matter of fact, I talked to Senator Kerry - he called me on the telephone. I think most of your listeners know that I'm an independent guy and I try to stay in the middle of all this," Franks said, explaining that his opposition to the Kerry plan was nonpartisan.

"The fact is that we ought to plan coming out of Iraq based on getting the job done and not based on a calendar," he told Hennen. "I don't know whether it will be next June or whether it will be a year from next June - I don't know. I know that we need to get the job done and then bring our young people home."

Asked if he shared that assessment with Kerry, Franks said, "As a matter of fact I did tell him that and he said, 'Well, you actually are right about that.'"

According to Franks, Kerry explained, "What I've tried to say is I want the Americans to come out but I want to bring more from the international community in to help us do the job in Iraq."

In response, Franks told the top Democrat: "Senator, I would not argue with you on that a bit. We just need to do that based on our ability to do it and not based on some fictitious calendar."

Despite his talk with Kerry, Gen. Franks indicated he'd clearly prefer that President Bush continue to serve as commander in chief.

"Every day of my life, I reflect on the leadership of George W. Bush," he told Hennen. "George W. Bush, while I was in uniform, made me proud of my commander in chief."

The one-time top military man, whose memoir "American Soldier" replaces Bill Clinton's book at the top of the New York Times best-seller list this week, said also that there was no question that Iraq and al-Qaida helped each other with terrorist training.

"There's no question that there were a number of [terrorist] training camps inside Afghanistan. And that over the course of years, there were a number of Iraqis who for one reason or another seemed to go to Afghanistan to get that kind of training."

Asked whether Salman Pak - the South Baghdad terror camp where Islamic radicals practiced airline hijacking - shows an Iraq link to the 9/11 attacks, Franks said:

"I won't say it. I won't say it because I don't know. I do know about Salman Pak, but I don't know if the Iraqis were tied into 9/11. I know that the Iraqis and the terrorists had links, but I cannot tie it to 9/11."

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