  We present abundances of C, N, O, F, Na, and Fe in six giant stars of the
tidally disrupted globular cluster NGC 6712. The abundances were derived by
comparing synthetic spectra with high resolution infrared spectra obtained with
the Phoenix spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope. We find large
star-to-star abundance variations of the elements C, N, O, F, and Na. NGC 6712
and M4 are the only globular clusters in which F has been measured in more than
two stars, and both clusters reveal F abundance variations whose amplitude is
comparable to, or exceeds, that of O, a pattern which may be produced in M >
5M_sun AGB stars. Within the limited samples, the F abundance in globular
clusters is lower than in field and bulge stars at the same metallicity. NGC
6712 and Pal 5 are tidally disrupted globular clusters whose red giant members
exhibit O and Na abundance variations not seen in comparable metallicity field
stars. Therefore, globular clusters like NGC 6712 and Pal 5 cannot contribute
many field stars and/or field stars do not form in environments with chemical
enrichment histories like that of NGC 6712 and Pal 5. Although our sample size
is small, from the amplitude of the O and Na abundance variations, we infer a
large initial cluster mass and tentatively confirm that NGC 6712 was once one
of the most massive globular clusters in our Galaxy.
