'Mad Dog' Chosen for SoD Post

[AuH20]

Some good and some bad with Mattis. He is virulently opposed to the NDAA, but he's not a fan of isolationism.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...tary/94608474/


Mattis is not enamored with Israel.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-us-g...acking-israel/

http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2016/...#.WECgiPkrKUk=

[AuH20]

[AuH20]

[enhanced_deficit]

Should have looked before posting new thread:

Trump chooses anti-torture , pro Palestinian State Gen. as Sec. of Defense

Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense

Washington Post

- ‎1 hour ago‎

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense, according to people familiar with the decision, nominating a former senior military officer ...


Mattis Pick Would Risk Confirmation Fight with Pro-Israel Groups
http://www.breitbart.com/
9 hours ago - James Mattis as Secretary of Defense risks a fight with pro-Israel groups ... Mattis also insisted on urgently creating a Palestinian-Arab state





Related

Obama firmly opposed Israeli settlements before Andrew Adler threat scandal

Netanyahu promises no Palestinian state if he is re-elected
Mar 16, 2015

Trump cancels Israel trip after Netanyahu criticism
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/politi...s-israel-trip/
Dec 10, 2015

James Woods on Obama: He’s the ‘gift from hell’

[AuH20]

It's official now.

[TheCount]

Mostly no complaints. A little too anti-iran for my tastes but that seems unavailable with a Trump presidency.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

Excellent pick. Not only is he widely regarded as one of the best soldiers of his generation, he's like a war-philosopher from a previous age. His other nickname aside from "Mad Dog" is "Warrior Monk". Some of Trump's appointments have been misses (though not as egregious as some proclaim), but this is a definite hit.

[Athan]

but he's not a fan of isolationism.

You won't find any star general a fan of isolationism. A large part of US's strategic assets are its world wide bases able to allow the US to deploy to any area within a small span of time. So it is technically their job to not be isolationist since that would be a fundamental conflict of interest in their ability to wage war effectively. It is the job of the congress to be isolationist.

[anaconda]

It's official now.

I thought that so far it was only mentioned privately to a group present at a Trump rally? And that any official announcement would be made Monday?

[RJB]

[Zippyjuan]

I thought that so far it was only mentioned privately to a group present at a Trump rally? And that any official announcement would be made Monday?

Shhh! It's a secret! Nobody is supposed to know!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.043a2eba6131

To take the job, Mattis will need Congress to pass legislation to bypass a federal law stating that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. Congress has granted a similar exemption just once, when Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950.

Unlike Trump statements, Mattis is pro- NATO and feels the US does not have enough influence in the Middle East these days.

Mattis said the next president “is going to inherit a mess” and argued that the nuclear deal signed by the Obama administration last year may slow Iran’s ambitions to get a nuclear weapon but will not stop them. But he added that “absent a clear and present violation,” he did not see a way that Washington could go back on it, because any unilateral sanctions issued by the United States would not be as valuable if allies were not on board.

“In terms of strengthening America’s global standing among European and Middle Eastern nations alike, the sense is that America has become somewhat irrelevant in the Middle East, and we certainly have the least influence in 40 years,” Mattis said.

Mattis, whose nicknames include “Mad Dog” and the “Warrior Monk,” has had a leading hand in some of the U.S. military’s most significant operations in the past 20 years. As a one-star general, he led an amphibious task force of Marines that carried out a November 2001 raid in helicopters on Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, giving the Pentagon a new foothold against the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Using the call sign “Chaos,” he commanded a division of Marines during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and returned there the following year to lead Marines in bloody street fighting in the city of Fallujah.

It's fun to shoot people.

Mattis occasionally has come under scrutiny for impolitic remarks. Most notably, he said in 2005 during a panel discussion in San Diego that “it’s fun to shoot some people” and “I like brawling,” drawing criticism from the Marine commandant at the time, Gen. Michael Hagee. But Hagee also later backed Mattis, saying the general often spoke with candor to reflect the horrors of war. Other supporters noted that he often stressed to his troops that it was important to treat civilians in a combat zone with care.

[Cleaner44]

Seems like a very competent hire. Very different from the approach that a politician like Obama makes.

[enhanced_deficit]

I thought that so far it was only mentioned privately to a group present at a Trump rally? And that any official announcement would be made Monday?

It looks more public than private speech as it was all over media. But this is how he rolls... as a peoples man, people are his officials and peoples rallies are his office.

[unknown]

[RonZeplin]

Former Special Forces officer: Gen. ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis left ‘my men to die’


A former Army Special Forces officer is accusing retired Marine General James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump‘s pick to be defense secretary, of “leaving my men to die” after they were hit by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2001.
Mattis has not commented publicly on the incident, which was chronicled in a 2011 New York Times bestselling book, “The Only Thing Worthy Dying For,” by Eric Blehm. The book portrays Mattis as stubbornly unwilling to help the Green Berets.
His actions, which were not formally investigated at the time, are now likely to get far more scrutiny during the retired general’s Senate confirmation process.

[........]

[CaptUSA]

Memories....