Secretary of Defense James Mattis called it quits yesterday. The man Vox calls the last adult in the White House decided he can’t serve an administration hell-bent on destroying the foundation of America’s global strength, its commitment to working with the global community:
One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. NATO’s 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof [Secretary of Defense James Mattis, letter to Donald Trump, as posted in USA Today, 2018.12.20].
Mattis says respecting our allies goes hand in hand with standing up to dictators:
Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model—gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions—to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense [Mattis, 2018.12.20].
Mattis makes clear his experience-based view of the importance of diplomacy and international partnerships are the opposite of Donald Trump’s:
My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.
Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position [Mattis, 2018.12.20].
Mattis says he is staying through February to ensure a smooth transition and “to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February.” After that, brace yourself for full-throated Trump/Boltonism and the accelerated decline of global respect for an isolated, ill-tempered, and unreliable United States of America.
“Mattis was the last man standing for what had been U.S. foreign policy since World War II,” said Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament and a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel. “With him gone, this really marks a juncture in the Trump presidency. Now we have an unrestrained Trump, which is a dangerous signal for the year ahead” [Griff Witte and Isaac Stanley-Becker, “‘A Morning of Alarm’: Mattis Departure Sends Shock Waves Abroad,” Washington Post, 2018.12.21].
And Drumpf will lie about everyone respecting America because of Drumpf’s outsize abilities to negotiate treaties.
Shock Waves? yep. Big time. Some Republicans are finally waking up in light of Mattis’ resignation. It is too late and won’t be enough, but…….
Who is going to finally have a spine and do something? Put this country ahead of their own self interests?
trump will probably pick Ronny Jackson to be not only his personal narcotics supplier, but also to give him the physicals to show that he is now 6 foot 5 and still at 239 pounds. We Americans and the rest of the western world can now expect more attacks from Afghanistan on soft targets. Got to keep the military industrial system chugging along.
Betsy Devos will now be able to put her little brother Erik Prince in line to further line his pockets as a contractor, perhaps even Mattis replacement. The fun never ends under a wannabe dictatorship.
Mattis is correct, why bother with a Defense Secretary when the military is being directed by Russia. Make no mistake, Russia does not want us in Afghanistan (on it’s border) and it does not want us in Syria (it’s only warm port of call for access in the Mediterranean). American military just took a huge defeat and then passed all the heavy lifting back to France and the UK. First thing now is to call Ellsworth to see what Putin has in mind now for mission statement. Our women and men in service deserve better,
NATO is aware now that America cannot be trusted to fulfill it’s obligations of getting into a fight and then retreating. That’s what we get when we have a Russian asset in the White House. Well played Putin, well played.
Now is not the time to get rid of this distinguished general but Mattis was fired by Obama once as well. If he was willing to even work for Trump he might have deserved it.
There isn’t any reason why Eric Prince can’t make millions in no bid contracts providing school security with $100k mercs.
The authoritarians who oppose a less interventionist foreign policy and the authoritarians who oppose criminal justice reform are all part of the same crowd, using their control over us and our money to maximize their own unaccountable power over whomever else they feel the urge to control.
It’s been a bad month for them and a very good month for traditional American liberty and limited government.
Duly noted Jim Daily. President Obama did have to force Mattis into retirement, a far cry from a resignation like the letter he posted. Politico has a very good article about why the Pentagon wanted General Mattis to retire.
“Then, Mattis linked Iran to the rise of ISIS. “I consider ISIS nothing more than an excuse for Iran to continue its mischief,” he said. “Iran is not an enemy of ISIS; they have a lot to gain from the turmoil that ISIS creates.” What Mattis said next was eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush’s claim that because Al Qaeda wasn’t attacking Saddam Hussein, the two must be linked: “I would just point out one question for you to look into,” Mattis intoned. “What is the one country in the Middle East that has not been attacked by ISIS? One. That is Iran. That is more than happenstance, I’m sure.”
“Or maybe not. Mattis’ ISIS-is-Iran claim is breathtakingly short on facts. The Iranians are arming Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, who are fighting ISIS in Mosul, and Tehran has made little secret of its opposition to the Sunni terrorist group. Back in July, Iranian television said its government had uncovered an ISIS plot to set off bombs in Tehran, leading to the arrest of 10 terrorist operatives. “The U.S. has lots of disagreements with Iran,” a senior Pentagon civilian official told me on Friday, “but what to do about ISIS isn’t one of them. We want them defeated, and so do they.” https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/james-mattis-iran-secretary-of-defense-214500
Of course, General Mattis has a lot more information now than he had then. The bigger picture of keeping Iran into the agreement now became clear and that is why he did not want the withdrawal from Syria nor the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He said so in his resignation letter. He resigned, President Obama forced his retirement, big difference.
American intervention in Syria was not authorized by Congress. Why isn’t there media coverage of this fact? Why does the corporate media continue to criticize Trump from a hawkish point of view? Why doesn’t the corporate media provide historical context … like the fact that the US Invasion of Iraq created the conditions for the birth of ISIS. Our policies produced the current situation. Now we are told we must continue to pursue military means to achieve “peace” in the Middle East. We need to stand up to the military-industrial complex. We need to recognize that the corporate media simply parrots the interests of generals and defense contractors.
Type truthdig into google and read the article by Maj. Danny Sjursen for
an alternate view.
Agreed Jason, since Vietnam and the exception of Afghanistan, what has been authorized by Congress?
As we know you are a supporter of Russia and the trump regime so it only makes sense for you to criticize the “media” for pointing out the news. trump said that he and he alone would defeat ISIS in his first 30 days, he even shot some missiles into Syria while having some chocolate cake to show his brand of support for Rayethon and the military industrial complex. He state that his support for the murderers in Saudi Arabia was for the sale of military hardware there, so your argument is like flatulence in the wind.
What time are you gonna pick up your paytroll check? Do you get that paytroll holiday bonus?
Mr. Arendt, This was not a strategic decision, it was a bribe.
“Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that the Syria decision also coincided with the administration’s notification to Congress late Tuesday that Turkey’s long-sought purchase of U.S.-produced Patriot missile defense batteries had been approved after a years-long battle over the terms of a deal between Ankara and Washington.
“It would be disturbing if a strategic gesture was made for commercial reasons,” Alterman said.” Washington Post 12/17/2018
From the same Washington Post Article:
“Senior lawmakers of both parties said they had no warning the decision was coming. Many were sharply critical, saying it left the door open for Assad allies Iran and Russia, abandoned Kurdish allies, and undercut U.N. efforts.
A number of close U.S. allies who are members of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State said they were not consulted and were given no prior warning. One European defense secretary put in a call Tuesday to Jim Mattis after hearing rumors of the decision and received a late-night call back from the defense secretary with confirmation. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not participate in the meeting with Trump and was in the dark until after it took place, according to several people familiar with the situation.”
When we start going it alone, we get our nose bloodied badly. Think 9/11 and you get the idea.
Representative Barbara Lee sums it up nicely “While I agree we must bring home our troops as soon as possible, there is no plan in place to address the humanitarian disaster in Syria or advance negotiated peace. We MUST end these unauthorized wars, but the manner in which we do it matters.” trump just wakes up after a twitter outburst and does the stupid. When will republicans stand up to this instead of waiting for the Democratic House to do that?
Kurt, how much of the authoritarians’ motives are power/control and how much is profit? I sometimes wonder if there is even a thought to the people whose lives are being sacrificed – if they are just dollar signs on the profit sheet.
Some Pootiepublicans in the Senate are sounding critical of him. The Bloviating Bigot needs to be careful that he keeps 34 rock solid traitor Senators on his side in the likely case of impeachment. 67 votes and his repulsive self is toast.
The majority of the nation desperately hopes and prays and works for the latter outcome.
Taliban reports this now. Tell me again why we have a trillion dollar budget for defense and probably double that in a dark hole someplace. Why do we give a trillion dollars to farmers whose cousins get the money while looking at their belly buttons in Belize.
“Senior members told NBC News the news was a clear indication they were on the verge of victory.
“The 17-year-long struggle and sacrifices of thousands of our people finally yielded fruit,” said a senior Taliban commander from Afghanistan’s Helmand province. “We proved it to the entire world that we defeated the self-proclaimed world’s lone super power.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-greets-pentagon-s-withdrawal-troops-afghanistan-cries-victory-n950811
So, all now we will see is the last helicopter leaving Wherever, Afghanistan…just like the one leaving the American embassy in Saigon. What a terrible waste on something that would have worked for the world if Bush and Cheney would have stayed the hell out of Iraq.
Good find Edwin. Danny Sjursen is sharp.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/were-allowed-to-celebrate-trumps-withdrawal-from-syria/
“o” writes:
CNN reports:
Lockheed Martin’s profits will pay for a lot of pro-war propaganda. Members of Congress don’t have to be evil to keep those profits flowing (though it helps). They just have to be gullible.
I’m all for ending America’s endless war. I’d love to have a President who would enunciate a clear, consistent, comprehensible rationale and policy for doing so.
Yet we have a White House that one moment overrules the advice of every experienced military thinker in the room on a gut impulse to please the Turkish President but the next moment insists that we must spend more money barricading our nation against imaginary invading hordes.
We need to be a more open and inviting nation that uses diplomacy and moral force rather walls and bombs.
Ending endless wars, check. Working with our NATO allies to do so, failed. Making the Russian banks that corrupted America richer, double check.
We missed the part of the sanctions that were lifted by trump at the same time of all this paper shuffling. Those sanctions benefit the oligarch and his bank that funded the trump problems we see here now with his false presidency. When you did a little deeper and see that Canada still has tariffs on its aluminum, but Russia’s not only were lifted, the sanction was as well. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Well played Mr. Putin, well played.
There has never been a President during war time that wasn’t reelected. Also, there’s never been a President who didn’t know this. Some start ’em. Some continue ’em. Don’t believe anything Trump does is designed to help anyone but himself. Follow The Money
http://www.theprogressiveprofessor.com/?p=19187
Iran also praised trump for pulling out of Syria. Gosh, who needs the military spending now? We’re all pals as we go on down the yellow brick road. We haven’t heard anything from Bibi on this though, hope he is happy now that all is well on his border with Syria.
”
“Trump defends decision to withdraw troops from Syria yesterday
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said the US military presence in Syria damaged the region, in the government’s first comments on President Donald Trump’s plan to pull US troops from the war-torn country.
Trump vowed on Thursday that the United States would no longer be the “policeman of the Middle East” as he ordered troops back from Syria.
“The presence of American forces was from the very start, in principle, a wrong and illogical move and a primary cause of instability and insecurity in the region,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Bahram Ghasemi said on his Telegram channel on Saturday. Tehran has been a key supporter of the Syrian government.”
“Hope is not a Method.” penned General Gordon Sullivan. Reader Mathis likely read it, failed internalizing it.
Generals Mathis, Kelly, Dumford, McMaster – should have known better, either failed their due diligence or over-rated their ability to change chronic, buffoonish stupid.
The frightening future is now who will delay and deflect stupid from: withdrawing from NATO, from cutting deals with our enemies that weaken the US, who may start ill-advised wars, raking the forests, coddling the Saudis, Turks, Russians, & North Koreans, lining his family’s pockets, etc. Certainly the spineless senate majority of playground followers is not up to the task. It’s laughable the Argus imagined that minion thune was a ‘leader’.
Sarcastic thanks to Senators Thune, Rounds, and their fellow spineless electoral college go-alongs-to-get-alongs with damaging the US democratic republic by giving us stupid and then not disciplining him.
John, that may be the best comment I’ve read regarding the Republican traitors in the WH and Congress.
Mattis proved you can’t serve both trump and America:
“The story is told of Jim Mattis, when he was the commanding general at Quantico, relieving a young lance corporal on Christmas. The rest of that wintry day, those entering the front gate of the Marine base were startled to see that the sentry was a general, checking passes and waving cars through so that a young man could spend the holiday with his family. It is the kind of behavior animated by sentiments Donald Trump could not understand, and it reflected a kind of code by which he cannot live.
The president misunderstood his secretary of defense. The Jim Mattis one saw on the battlefields of Afghanistan and in the shattered cities of Iraq was not “Mad Dog,” a sobriquet he loathed, but a resolute military leader who was a reader and a thinker. Give him a copy of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, and he would compare it with the other two editions that he already owned.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/mattis-proved-you-cant-serve-both-trump-and-america/578902/
I salute the generals for trying. For buying us 2 years of what would have been far worse and likely will be worse in the future – if Mueller and/or the senate fail stepping up.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bombers-to-venezuela/
Putin sent 2 supersonic nuke capable bombers and other craft to Venezuela, an easy bombing run distance from Drumpf Dump South at Mar a Leggo where Drumpf would be hacking away if he was smart enough not to shut down the government to force him to cancel his golf weeks.
Where was Mattis all this time?
Lindey Graham is calling for immediate direct congressional testimony from General Mattis on both the Syria withdrawal and the Afghanistan withdrawal. Don’t forget that we Americans and NATO are paying for an additional 25,000 private contractors in Afghanistan. So the troopers are protecting the contractors there. In addition to all of that, there is the NATO contribution on everything. You remove the troops out of theater and you remove NATO contribution funding. Then our good buds, the Saudi’s, move back in and we see buildings in the US go into dust.
Others think that trump will be impeached, go further into madness and then the senate will find itself and that will be it for trump. Pence will pardon him and then the state boys will have his arse in the hoosegow, along with the rest of the crime family. Should be an interesting next couple of months. BTW, don’t count on Number 2 or his sidekick in the senate, to do anything but look like dumb and dumber.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/422621-erdogan-promised-trump-hed-finish-off-isis-in-syria-report
Erdogan will probably finish off our Kurd allies as well. What more did Drumpf give to Turkey?
Maybe Donald Trump will open the door for a radical Dennis Kucinich-style downsizing of the military. By destroying our alliances and our global reputation, Trump will leave us with no friends willing to let us project our power. We’ll be able to scrap three-fourths of our military because no one will want us parking our planes and missiles and troops in their territory and no one will call us for help because they don’t trust us any more. We’ll hole up here behind our rusty steel slats as the American era ends and new hegemons clash far away.
https://goo.gl/2cw8uD
This article the Strib reprinted from the NY Times is headlined, “Trump’s foreign policy is a source of Russian glee.” Included is the photo from Helsinki in June where Pootie is handing a soccer ball to his little boy. At least, that’s the expression on Pootie’s face. Just nauseating.
The headline is an accurate assessment of the meat of the article. It is much truer than anything that’s come out of the WH or from the Pootiepublican Party.
Why should the US risk US soldiers in Syria and Afghanistan now?
What is in it for the US?
The Saudi’s will move in now after we leave.
We will still have air support there for our allies.
That article written by a journalist isn’t worth the paper it is written on when it.
Interesting read, Debbo. Putie has a Drumpf and a Troll rooting for him.
Wow: determined not to have the stability Mattis offered or to let anyone leave on his own terms, Trump this morning announced he’s firing Mattis and replacing him as of January 1 with Deputy Defense Sec. Patrick Shanahan.
What’s in it for the U.S. to do that?
Puffs up Drumpf’s image of himself as CIC-chicken hawk in charge.
Jim Daily – “work for Trump” or even for “the office of the President” is not the job description of ANY US Government employee. The job description is to work for the USA.
Orange “Moran” is so seriously mentally ill. A loyal, U. S. Congress would have invoked the health rule, #25, many, many months ago. However, Pootiepublicans are not loyal US citizens.
My hope is that nearly all of the Pootiepublicans’ leadership, including those who are not elected officials, end up imprisoned. This nation and the world needs to see that traitors against the USA pay a very high price. Such criminal behavior must be sharply deterred for the good of the nation.