View Full Version : General Mattis Departure - Symptomatic or Systemic
Ret10Echo
12-20-2018, 17:40
The revolving door of the current administration has another Cabinet position being vacated.
Maybe this one is different... General Mattis is something of a Rock Star when it comes to his credentials as a military commander and seemingly simple, straightforward no-BS approach to things. Aside from warfighter activities, the fact that the DoD conducted it's first EVER financial audit is a very significant accomplishment (yeah..so it failed.. shocker)
The Administrations left-turn on Syria seems to have been the final straw.
Initial story here (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-announces-mattis-will-leave-as-defense-secretary-at-the-end-of-february/2018/12/20/e1a846ee-e147-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.db60391aba51)
There was a comment that popped up somewhere concerning this decision on Syria being an "abandonment of the Kurds". Hate to tell the guy who made that comment that we screwed the Kurds a long time ago....
Badger52
12-20-2018, 17:52
There was a comment that popped up somewhere concerning this decision on Syria being an "abandonment of the Kurds". Hate to tell the guy who made that comment that we screwed the Kurds a long time ago....No joke.
The commentariat will be interesting the next few days. There are plenty on both sides of that coin. Those who never saw a deployment (for someone else's kid) that they didn't like, and those who feel that the well in many respects is dry & the country should take a more insular approach.
Yes, the revolving door and a bit of a soap opera...but...every morning I wake up and still find reason to smile...
...Hillary Klinton is not my president !
:lifter
It seems a simple equation. If you pull out, which is a decision, I disagree with Mr. President, I will resign.
Please note this historic moment.
When was the last time a General resign over a policy decision?
Edit to add: Total respect for General Mattis. Completely worried, if this is in fact the case.
WarriorDiplomat
12-21-2018, 00:00
It seems both countries have become bottomless endless money pits...Afghanistan has had new generals with new plans that seem to just check the block on their careers at the cost of soldiers doing the actual fighting lives....Syria became a mess under the Obama Sychophantic and the GS golden parachute Centcom crap.....is it time to pull out now that the anti migrant movement in Europe has found the courage to stand up to the migrant charter? now that Obama is gone and can no longer influence the EU by withholding U.S. Monetary support and a strong POTUS who is a nationalist who knows.... Hard to say I think both conflicts became war for profit ventures and the Centcom now led by Votel the sellout and bullshit intelligence that caused the analyst uprising gives me reason to believe that trusting the honesty of the war profiteering machine has cost enough U.S. lives.....we will see I am certain that no one in the Pentagon is getting ground truth anymore than the POTUS......that is what the last 17 yrs has taught me with all the white washing and the false flag exaggerated intelligence that has been produced going into our 3rd POTUS since this started.....I don't trust the intel anymore than I trust the decision to pull out......I am certain that Mattis believes his Generals in CENTCOM I don't.
Note that the Generals leading today to include Mattis did not resign over Obamas forced SJW female and Transgender integration either.....they're all politicos. The Big business of war is a helluva a lot of power and influence the golden parachutes sucking up money from every contract you can think of living off GWOT money and the retired future having a high paying contracting job or start up is awful powerful since the way was shown during the Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict. Not saying that Mattis was looking at that future but most of these bigger contract companies do hire these connected GO's. The Kurds have been getting fooked since the post Ottoman league of nations designated the lands and left the Kurdish homelands out of the decision.
He has been in office for 2-years, it is time for him to go (normal rotation). Suck-ass job,18-hour days, meetings and travel your ass off, no days off, no vacation, and everyone second guesses your decisions. And people ask, “why does he want to leave?”.
Scotty Miller said that we cannot win the war in Afg. I agree that the GPF cannot win it, it isn’t a conventional war.
1stindoor
12-21-2018, 07:06
..Scotty Miller said that we cannot win the war in Afg. I agree that the GPF cannot ain’t it, it isn’t a conventional war.
I doubt we can win it unconventionally...the US Populace doesn't have the stomach for it.
I doubt we can win it unconventionally...the US Populace doesn't have the stomach for it.
And it would take everyone, with no gloves or press.
1stindoor
12-21-2018, 08:52
And it would take everyone, with no gloves or press.
I completely agree. It would also help if the folks doing the "winning" didn't feel the need to video anything or "share" it on social media. It would definitely be a long road.
Mustang Man
12-21-2018, 10:23
This is why I voted for Trump, pull out of Syria. The last Commander in Chief, Secretary of State Clinton/Kerry and the Swamp got the U.S. involved there, now Trump will get the U.S. out. The memes and hype around Mattis have been disappointing considering he could have very easily reversed the move of women in combat arms/SOF.
Plan B of breaking up Syria into several states has failed. Good. When both Democrats and Republicans are upset you know we're doing the right thing.
Old Dog New Trick
12-21-2018, 11:31
I just finished reading the letter of resignation (minus the one paragraph that’s missing 30%) It leaves me very curious what the Dummycrats are reading, because this looked like a mature letter expressing a minor fundamental disagreement on vision and purpose. Not, I’m going to throw a temper tantrum because you disagreed with me over Syria, China and Russia.
I for one am glad to see this POTUS doesn’t believe in Permanent-War for the sake of involvement without end.
We should have left Afghanistan on December 31, 2001, and utilized our strengths as a world military force and law enforcement champion to defeat al Qaeda, UBL, and the Taliban. And, never strayed into Iraq without a clear plan to ‘not’ break everything and go home. Mattis, just a Brigadier General back then, followed the orders of Rumsfeld and later, Gates, Panetta, Hagen, and Carter after him. I didn’t hear him resign over allowing all the BS that happened under Bush and Obama’s systematic destruction of the military.
I think what he’s saying is it’s time for me to go to the old soldiers home and spend time with my family before it’s too late. I also think he’s playing the get out of Dodge card before the new Congress (House) takes over and runs the rest of this country into the ground before the 2020 elections.
I could be wrong and he’s really pissed because the president was acting presidential and ordered an end to US involvement in a country with little to no strategic or national importance to us after killing another towel head at a cost of $1,000,000,000 per head.
Badger52
12-21-2018, 12:38
I think what he’s saying is it’s time for me to go to the old soldiers home and spend time with my family and a 7-figure consultancy & book schedule before it’s too late.My take on that possibility. I do agree (also having read it) that the actual letter was crafted by someone not throwing the tantrum Rachel MadCow would have you believe.
Sunni coalition to protect the Kurds in Syria? Wonder if it’s true.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-arabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/
Ret10Echo
12-21-2018, 20:55
Sunni coalition to protect the Kurds in Syria? Wonder if it’s true.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-arabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/
Saudi Wahabists...? Seems an unlikely union or at least not one that is sustainable (The enemy of my enemy is my friend)
Saudi Wahabists...? Seems an unlikely union or at least not one that is sustainable (The enemy of my enemy is my friend)
Indeed!
They both fear ISIS factions uprooting their power domestically but they aren’t really helping in Yemen...unless they get a chance to kill Huthis or Iranian advisors.
Interesting article written in 2005 by a former DIRNSA but still germane (IMO) today.
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Ask_this.view&askthisid=129
Yeah, that article is like dejavu all over again.... only this time, just maybe our POTUS cares more about the country and NOT repeating history than his “legacy” or the “family name”..... Guess that’s what happens when you already have your name on the building, private helo on the roof, and a couple Bil in the safe, you just do what you think is right and tell it like you see it.
No wonder Pravda hates this guy!
MAGA!
Indeed!
They both fear ISIS factions uprooting their power domestically but they aren’t really helping in Yemen...unless they get a chance to kill Huthis or Iranian advisors.
Interesting article written in 2005 by a former DIRNSA but still germane (IMO) today.
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Ask_this.view&askthisid=129
WarriorDiplomat
12-22-2018, 13:27
The swamp draining strategy is being accomplished through self identification of the swamp critters or quitters....Trump is giving us the gift of the transparency we want...... his rhetoric draws out the puss in politics his actions expose the quitters and the anti American special interest congressmen and the agendas that most of Americans were not aware of to the degree we can now see it.....in the words of our forefather Benjamin Franklin when asked if they had given us a monarchy or a republic to which he replied "A republic if you can keep it". How many more "Et Tu Brute" moments will he endure......Trump is a man after our hearts.
Trump in his time on the campaign trail has given us the corruption for us to see as an outsider and non career politician he has been immune to the financial charms of office and corruption that made the Clintons and Obamas independently wealthy.....he has dawn out the evil and ridiculous for us to judge much like sending out a decoy to draw fire and expose the enemy he has done this. Our military leaders were so bold we saw it under Obama as to quit trying to conceal their personal agendas and the direction they were willing to go the depths they were willing to sink and the non chalant sacrifice of its loyal servants through something we believe in by following an order the slap in the face was allowing to believe our qualified opinions mattered.
Trump continues to expose what has been hidden from we the people the ugly truth of D.C. which leads us to the same question we could ask after he leaves office "what have you given us Mr President" to which he can reply "I have shown and exposed what is wrong with our nation.......I have stripped the senate of it's clothes....I have given you the opportunity to reclaim your republic of its deceivers"...
A little chuckle.
Now that the crayon is in the pocket,, it's a travesty that Big Jim "retires"
Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call, Daniel Halper @danielhalper
January 25, 2013 at 10:26 AM
President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced.
"I am told that General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him -- he hadn't received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House," Thomas E. Ricks reports.
In another post, Ricks says Mattis was fired because:
Pentagon insiders say that he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way -- not because he went all "mad dog," which is his public image, and the view at the White House, but rather because he pushed the civilians so hard on considering the second- and third-order consequences of military action against Iran. Some of those questions apparently were uncomfortable. Like, what do you do with Iran once the nuclear issue is resolved and it remains a foe? What do you do if Iran then develops conventional capabilities that could make it hazardous for U.S. Navy ships to operate in the Persian Gulf? He kept saying, "And then what?"
There is also a belief that Mattis and Obama differed on Iran. "A particular point of disagreement was what to do about mischief Iran is exporting to other countries. Mattis is indeed more hawkish on this than the White House was," writes Ricks in yet another post.
"National Security Advisor Tom Donilon in particular was irked by Mattis's insistence on being heard. I cringe when I hear about civilians shutting down strategic discussions. That is exactly what the Bush administration did in late 2002 when generals persisted in questioning whether it was wise to invade Iraq. That led to what some might call a fiasco."
link: (https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/obama-fires-top-general-without-even-a-phone-call?_amp=true)
Ret10Echo
12-27-2018, 15:56
Indeed!
They both fear ISIS factions uprooting their power domestically but they aren’t really helping in Yemen...unless they get a chance to kill Huthis or Iranian advisors.
Interesting article written in 2005 by a former DIRNSA but still germane (IMO) today.
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Ask_this.view&askthisid=129
From Reuters:
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Alarmed by a U.S. decision to leave Syria, Kurdish leaders who run much of the north are urging Russia and its ally Damascus to send forces to shield the border from the threat of a Turkish offensive.
WarriorDiplomat
12-28-2018, 01:02
I keep reading the "concerns" of congressmen about Trump pulling troops out of Syria
My money says these politicos don't care about how many soldiers have died but they do care about is the military industrial complex jobs that are lost as a result.....all the POS companies, gov officials, DOD a-holes who have or plan to profit care more about hyperbolic reporting on the MiddleEast instead of getting our people out....we have not had an endstate,or a consistent strategy since we started....then again there isn't going to be one when this much wealth is being made and IMO there are a few tit for tat collaborators in uniform and OGA's etc.....these representatives I would bet are more worried about being voted out by their constituents when war supporting jobs in their districts dissappear.....God bless LG Smedley Butler's insight into the business of war except in his day it was oil, sugar etc....today it is about the profiteers the age of contracting....the experts? they are watching the future money they planned on go away
Ret10Echo
12-28-2018, 06:07
.God bless LG Smedley Butler's insight into the business of war except in his day it was oil, sugar etc....today it is about the profiteers the age of contracting....the experts? they are watching the future money they planned on go away
Carpet baggers of a different era.
There is a lot of power associated with large budgets controlled by the Kritters...they don't want a reduction in their power and the 'gifts' they receive
What would the estimate be on veteran unemployment without the forever wars? Negligible?
Does that lead to a donwnsizing of the military (historically that is the cycle)?
Maybe a little more attention paid to the shenanigans to the south....
Badger52
12-28-2018, 06:21
Maybe a little more attention paid to the shenanigans to the south....The "government" has, for many years, not been in the service of the reasonable sector of the population, because reasonable people are the last ones to pick up the torches & pitchforks. Plus ca change... same shit, different trough.
I just find it amazing that Mattis retires and suddenly the dims amd MSM are concerned about national security.
PedOncoDoc
12-28-2018, 08:03
I just find it amazing that Mattis retires and suddenly the dims amd MSM are concerned about national security.
Quite simply, they refuse to let any small thing go to waste if they can use it to drum up fears and angst in the populace...
WarriorDiplomat
12-28-2018, 13:29
Quite simply, they refuse to let any small thing go to waste if they can use it to drum up fears and angst in the populace...
The burden of living in a nation where consent of the governed is needed..,global warming, conflict etc....are all economies driven by fear...I heard a GB say our biggest imminent threat is global warming
...are all economies driven by fear...
To me, the saddest part of that is that the sheep have allowed themselves to be led by fear. They are scared of everything and the political wolves, MSM, etc., all know and exploit it to the fullest. Pathetic really!
TrapperFrank
12-28-2018, 15:34
I never bought into the cult of Mattis. To me he was nothing more than a leg jarhead. That said, he was at odds with his bosses goals. It was time for him to go plain and simple. He can now get some cake job at a think tank or on some corporate board of directors. AMF General Mattis!
Astronomy
12-28-2018, 17:15
I never bought into the cult of Mattis. To me he was nothing more than a leg jarhead.
This. All the recycled Mad-Dog-as-Chuck-Norris jokes/memes aside... what exactly did he do for the last two years that makes his imminent departure some sort of historical crisis?
Sorry, but at 2-star level and above, it's all political, and hero-to-zero overnight. Even more so within the rarefied civilian atmosphere of Cabinet & White House posts. He wasn't in synch with his Boss. That inevitably leads to a predictable outcome.
Old Dog New Trick
12-28-2018, 17:37
It’s funny when people do exactly what they say they will do and all hell breaks out in the media. (The bias is showing and the hypocrisy has reached an all time high.)
Nicky Haley, Jim Mattis and many many more are doing what they said they would do. Serve in President Trump’s cabinet for as long as he will have them or leave when it benefits both parties and of a time where transitions are normally taking place.
I believe both said they would leave after the midterms when they accepted the job. Both performed admirably and both have raised the bar with regards to the stooges during the last administration and many before them.
It was good to see a “military” man given the job as Secretary of Defense again after so many failed civilians have been given that post and pushed agendas that are inconsistent with military service.
I only wish he (Mattis) had done more to stop and reboot the policy decisions of the last administration to restore order and discipline within the ranks.
It’s funny when people do exactly what they say they will do and all hell breaks out in the media. (The bias is showing and the hypocrisy has reached an all time high.)
Nicky Haley, Jim Mattis and many many more are doing what they said they would do. Serve in President Trump’s cabinet for as long as he will have them or leave when it benefits both parties and of a time where transitions are normally taking place.
I believe both said they would leave after the midterms when they accepted the job. Both performed admirably and both have raised the bar with regards to the stooges during the last administration and many before them.
It was good to see a “military” man given the job as Secretary of Defense again after so many failed civilians have been given that post and pushed agendas that are inconsistent with military service.
I only wish he (Mattis) had done more to stop and reboot the policy decisions of the last administration to restore order and discipline within the ranks.
Very well said indeed!
WarriorDiplomat
12-29-2018, 22:30
To me, the saddest part of that is that the sheep have allowed themselves to be led by fear. They are scared of everything and the political wolves, MSM, etc., all know and exploit it to the fullest. Pathetic really!
Agreed
That is why I usually stop take a deep breath and calmly start looking at the situation...if it even effects me in any way...keeping a healthy skepticism is important to avoid being made a fool of and enough life experience to recognize when something sounds foolish and enough intellectual curiosity coupled with common sense to ignore unrealistic crap and investigate plausible stuff that concerns me.
I was always confused by QPs who adored Mattis after the well known story of him leaving ODA 574 out to dry when he was the Commander at Camp Rhino. He did nothing remarkable or identifiably friendly to SF as CENTCOM Commander, and he rolled over on women in SOF and trannies as SECDEF. The myth of him as some sort of warfighter ignores that he was a staff officer for all of GWOT and beyond. I say good riddance.
Old Dog New Trick
12-30-2018, 10:35
If Stanley McChrystal left any doubt in anyone’s mind as to his allegiance to the military over his views on politics and gun control this should help clear that up.
https://apple.news/AvekQCcxVT3eGXuGO2rd9GA
President Trump immoral, doesn't tell the truth: Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal
What a tool he became for those next couple of stars if not a liar his whole career.
If Stanley McChrystal left any doubt...
...over his views on politics https://apple.news/AvekQCcxVT3eGXuGO2rd9GA.
"If we want to be governed by someone we wouldn't do a business deal with because their -- their background is so shady, if we're willing to do that, then that's in conflict with who I think we are. And so I think it's necessary at those times to take a stand."
...you know - the way we trusted folks like Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Regan, Bush, Clinton, or even the Choom-Gang POTUS
Nothing beats a lesson on honor and integrity like getting that lesson from a guy that lost his job for shit talking his commander in chief.
Now if only we could get some hip pocket training on how to identify sanctimonious behavior by people of power - we'd be ready for anything.
Old Dog New Trick
12-30-2018, 12:55
He must’ve had some real shattering mirror moments with Hamid Karsai...how many years of bad luck after breaking a mirror?
Badger52
12-30-2018, 14:04
"[I]Now if only we could get some hip pocket training on how to identify sanctimonious behavior by people of power - we'd be ready for anything.Of all the things the Human Genome Project couldn't tell us...
"You do not have to remind me that man is not equal to his rhetoric. "
- Dante, in The Russia House
If Stanley McChrystal left any doubt in anyone’s mind as to his allegiance to the military over his views on politics and gun control this should help clear that up.
https://apple.news/AvekQCcxVT3eGXuGO2rd9GA
President Trump immoral, doesn't tell the truth: Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal
What a tool he became for those next couple of stars if not a liar his whole career.
That interview was simply a hit piece by two never Trumpers. And, if they sell books it’s all gravy.
Please General..the other choice was Hillary “Benghazi” Klinton...look into that “integrity” mirror and let me know what you see.
The political elite are scared shitless of Trump pulling back the curtain on the shit show that is DC.
TrapperFrank
12-30-2018, 17:11
POTUS Trump is a Grade A son of a bitch. That said, sometimes it takes a Grade A son of a bitch to accomplish the task at hand. Full disclosure, I did not vote for POTUS Trump. I voted for the guy from New Mexico, Gary what's his name. After 8 years of beta male leadership by Dear Leader O'Bumbles it is refreshing to watch a Grade A son of a bitch at work. He gets stuff done.
Ret10Echo
12-30-2018, 21:39
Trump is not part of the "system". That scares the collective because he doesn't give a shit about breaking things. He's the modem day version of the fire ship drifting into the political safehaven of Washington DC.
By the way, I hate all political parties of which there is really only one.... so I don't have a horse in this race. Only the American people and the Constitution.
WarriorDiplomat
12-30-2018, 22:09
Trump is not part of the "system". That scares the collective because he doesn't give a shit about breaking things. He's the modem day version of the fire ship drifting into the political safehaven of Washington DC.
By the way, I hate all political parties of which there is really only one.... so I don't have a horse in this race. Only the American people and the Constitution.
As it should be...isn't it a shame that the networks the supports the two main parties is so deeply entrenched that without the support of one or the other their is almost no way for someone to win without the worker bees in every city already in place free of charge.?
Trump is not part of the "system". That scares the collective because he doesn't give a shit about breaking things. He's the modem day version of the fire ship drifting into the political safehaven of Washington DC.
By the way, I hate all political parties of which there is really only one.... so I don't have a horse in this race. Only the American people and the Constitution.
Well said. Concur completely.
POTUS Trump is a Grade A son of a bitch. That said, sometimes it takes a Grade A son of a bitch to accomplish the task at hand. Full disclosure, I did not vote for POTUS Trump. I voted for the guy from New Mexico, Gary what's his name. After 8 years of beta male leadership by Dear Leader O'Bumbles it is refreshing to watch a Grade A son of a bitch at work. He gets stuff done.
I’m of a very similar mind.
I don’t like the guy at all.
Recently, I read a book called “A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War struggle for Poland”.
A truly excellent book, telling a fantastic true story.
It also gives another great profile on President Ronald Reagan’s oversimplistic but highly effective good/evil viewpoint and ideological war against communism.
But I think the world has changed and the US is once again less politically civil.
I don’t think a gentleman like President Reagan would survive in an era of shock & awe social media politics.
President Trump is a brash, disruptive, unapologetic bully compared to President Reagan.
But if you’re in an existential fight, do you want a gentleman or a mongrel?
Badger52
12-31-2018, 18:08
But if you’re in an existential fight, do you want a gentleman or a mongrel?Precisely. The other side loves it, drooling, when those they seek to destroy get all "civlized" on 'em.
Me? I'll take some more CAS please - pile 'em up.
GratefulCitizen
12-31-2018, 18:17
Suspect that the general knows his stuff, and advocated for the best interests of the mission associated with his appointment.
Also suspect that the POTUS knows and has considered this.
However, the POTUS has a larger scale mission, and the general's mission has to fit within a larger set of priorities.
Mattis had views consistent with his SECDEF mission, and Trump made decisions consistent with his POTUS mission.
Trump is accountable to the people.
Time will tell which calls were the right ones.
Badger52
12-31-2018, 19:23
Recently, I read a book called “A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War struggle for Poland”.
A truly excellent book, telling a fantastic true story.
It also gives another great profile on President Ronald Reagan’s oversimplistic but highly effective good/evil viewpoint and ideological war against communism.
Get it here (https://smile.amazon.com/Covert-Action-Reagan-Struggle-Poland/dp/B07JJMJNLT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1546305583&sr=8-2&keywords=book+A+Covert+Action%3A+Reagan). (and yeah, shamelessly linked to smile.amazon, so set yours up to support GBF, or some other worthy outfit you think Bezos should kick in some bucks for).
Looking forward to it; my small town library - with a Rottweiler who handles inter-library loan searches - has it on the way. Winter ist lang, Kamerad.
Get it here (https://smile.amazon.com/Covert-Action-Reagan-Struggle-Poland/dp/B07JJMJNLT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1546305583&sr=8-2&keywords=book+A+Covert+Action%3A+Reagan). (and yeah, shamelessly linked to smile.amazon, so set yours up to support GBF, or some other worthy outfit you think Bezos should kick in some bucks for).
Looking forward to it; my small town library - with a Rottweiler who handles inter-library loan searches - has it on the way. Winter ist lang, Kamerad.
I really, really rate the book. Right up there with Special Forces Berlin on DET-A.
It provides some definitive closure for me on exactly how and where the US led west shattered the Warsaw Pact and eventually the Soviet Union.
President Reagan led the effort to win the ideological war between capitalism and communism.
I hope we can achieve a refocusing on clear ideological battle lines, after or concurrent with the necessary US domestic battle that must be won.
In some respects, I think the Covert Action book is worth reading to see how the same non kinetic political warfare battle plan is being applied against the US.
But with modern social media tools that cross borders easier and with greater precision than 80’s era UW logistics reaching into Poland.
doctom54
01-01-2019, 16:57
Suspect that the general knows his stuff, and advocated for the best interests of the mission associated with his appointment.
Also suspect that the POTUS knows and has considered this.
However, the POTUS has a larger scale mission, and the general's mission has to fit within a larger set of priorities.
Mattis had views consistent with his SECDEF mission, and Trump made decisions consistent with his POTUS mission.
Trump is accountable to the people.
Time will tell which calls were the right ones.
Well said.
It may be like Gen McArthur and Truman. In hindsight it looks like President Truman was correct.
WarriorDiplomat
01-01-2019, 18:13
Well said.
It may be like Gen McArthur and Truman. In hindsight it looks like President Truman was correct.
One thing McArthur and Truman did not have much like Mattis and Trump today do not have and that is ground truth....they only know what is reported
I can tell you right now that the short memory of Americans to recent events is killing us as citizens holding accountable our poor leaders....the CENTCOM debacle and GEN Austin being relieved.....why? the dishonest reporting and the unqualified personnel from top to bottom who were changing reports, white washing etc....to the point that the disconnect from the POTUS and Pentagon briefings compared to ground truth was alarmingly.....it took the senate arms committee to drag Austin and his staff so the General could look foolish because as we all know you can't possible know the truth if your staff takes self serving liberties with truth and bend, twist and change a commander is only as good as the quality and character of those under his command.
I as well as others have seen hyperbole reporting, substandard and qualified but incapable analysts, exaggerated wordsmithing to justify the need for contract support and you name it. I don't think Mattis has enough truthful information to know what the best decision is and that means Trump doesn't either but IMO Trump is correct to pull the plug on this life taking bottomless money pit with no end in site
I as well as others have seen hyperbole reporting, substandard and qualified but incapable analysts, exaggerated wordsmithing to justify the need for contract support and you name it. I don't think Mattis has enough truthful information to know what the best decision is and that means Trump doesn't either but IMO Trump is correct to pull the plug on this life taking bottomless money pit with no end in site
The “machine” sidelines those who have disparate opinions and don’t submit to the group think. After the years of pay freezes and low raises, managers use the power of negative evals and promotions to stifle disagreement.
bblhead672
01-03-2019, 10:59
Trump is not part of the "system". That scares the collective because he doesn't give a shit about breaking things. He's the modem day version of the fire ship drifting into the political safehaven of Washington DC.
By the way, I hate all political parties of which there is really only one.... so I don't have a horse in this race. Only the American people and the Constitution.
Couldn't agree more.
The physics of defense strategy is quite easy to understand…
Let me break it down for everyone:
Newton's First Law suggests that a General Officer at war will remain at war until acted upon by an external force.
Newton's Second Law suggests that escalation of war is dependent on the forces acting upon the General Officer and the General Officers support in congress. For any given General Officer, when the net support in congress is increased, the escalation of war is increased.
Newtons third Law suggests that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
In short –Gen Mattis was retired - AT REST if you will - and he would have stayed that way. Instead, President Trump acted upon him – as a result, Gen Mattis got to be at war again…
In his natural state of war, Sec Mattis would have found reasons to stay at war indefinitely. It doesn’t matter how many “dwell time” reviews are sent down by the OSD. It doesn’t matter how passionately he might talk about pressure on the force and “getting to a 2 to 1” for the good of the force; Sec Mattis would have kept folks going in and out of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Niger, or for that Matter, he would have probably even tried to put troops in the local Food-King in Newark New Jersey if there had been reports that somebody spilled some ISIS on aisle 7…
...because, 'ter'ists
But the POTUS told him to stop. He was acted on by an external force – his equal and opposite reaction to “stop” was “I’ll go”
So he quit…
…Trumps opposite reaction was: “no, you’re fired”
Yet, the USA is full of four-eyed academics that cant seem to tie this to the basic physical laws of the universe
It’s science
Badger52
01-03-2019, 13:58
It’s scienceThat opens a whole new set of windows & mirrors; I bet one could extrapolate those immutable laws & apply them to the forces that act on the GO; like the politicians, congresskritters, lobbyists & such. This is... almost nuclear.
BOXThe physics of defense strategy is quite easy to understand…
Let me break it down for everyone:
Brilliant, an interdisciplinary education exampled in all its simplicity. Thank you.