The resignation letter of Secretary of Defense James Mattis that was published last Thursday revealed much of the Deep State mindset that has produced the foreign policy catastrophes of the past seventeen years. Mattis, an active duty general in the Marine Corps who reportedly occasionally reads books, received a lot of good press during his time at Defense, sometimes being referred to as “the only adult in the room” when President Donald Trump’s national security and foreign policy team was meeting. Conveniently forgotten are Mattis comments relating to how to “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” His sobriquet in the Corps was “Mad Dog.”
In the media firestorm that has followed upon General Mattis’s resignation, he has been generally lauded as a highly experienced and respected leader who has numerous friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Of course, the press coverage should be taken with a grain of salt as it is designed less to praise Mattis and more to get at Trump over the decision to leave Syria, which is being assailed by both neoliberals and neoconservatives who believe that war is the health of the state.
The arguments against the Trump decisions to depart from Syria and downsize in Afghanistan are contrived for the most part and based on the premise that American intervention in places that Washington deems not to be sufficiently promoting democracy, rule of law and free trade is a good thing. Peter Ford, former British Ambassador to Syria, put it nicely when discussing the reaction in the media:
“Trump's critics…will have the vapors about 'losing ground to Russia', 'making Iran's day', and 'abdicating influence,' but their criticism is ill-founded. Contrary to their apparent belief, the US does not have a God-given right to send its forces anywhere on the planet it deems fit. Withdrawal will see the US in one respect at least follow the international rules-based system we are so fond of enjoining on others, and will therefore be a victory of sorts for upholders of international law.”
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Russia is nothing to the world stage but a possible ally of the developed nations of the planet. With cooperation, Earth could see a future only hopefully, desperately imagined by some, brought down only by the perennially basest of human behavior. It's not government that needs fixing, it's Mankind. Our imperfections, or so we judge them to be through religion or logic, are what stand in our way. We must always remember that we are not just small, we are, in effect, insignificant.
ReplyDeleteMattis is part a piece of crap. He wants endless wars and occupations. It is a big money maker for him and others well connected. Unlike most of us it doesn't faze him that our military are coming come dead and many maimed for life. Mattis doesn't care. The pain and suffering of them and their families means nothing to him. Mattis knew the President was against all these wars and wanted our military out of a no win situation. He took the position thinking he could change the mind of the President and it didn't work. Mattis is nothing to respect unless you are one of the ones getting rich off of these wars. Thank God President Trump fired him. He's trash nothing but trash.
ReplyDeleteThe only dilemma is Mattis. ANOTHER retired military GENERAL thinking he's more important than the PRESIDENT. All the money he's gonna lose from the lobbyists.
ReplyDelete