James
Mattis
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Undated: James Norman Mattis (born
September 8, 1950) is the 26th
United States Secretary of Defense and a former
United States Marine Corps
general.
Mattis commissioned in the Marine Corps through the
Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from
Central Washington University. A career soldier, he gained a reputation for
intellectualism and eventually advanced to the rank of
general. Mattis served in the
Persian Gulf War,
Afghanistan, and
Iraq. From
2007 to 2010, he commanded the
United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as
NATO's
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He was Commander of
United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013. After retiring from the
military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a board member
of Theranos.
Mattis was nominated as Secretary of Defense by President-elect Trump and
confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2017. He needed a waiver from Congress to
allow his nomination to be considered, as he had only been separated from the
military for the previous three years despite U.S. federal law requiring at
least seven years of retirement for former military personnel to be appointed
Secretary of Defense.[4]
As Secretary of Defense, Mattis has affirmed the United States' commitment to
defending longtime ally
South
Korea in the wake of the
North Korea crisis.[5][6]
An opponent of proposed collaboration with
Russia on
military matters,[7]
Mattis has consistently stressed Russia's threat to the world order.[8]
Mattis has occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump
administration policies, opposing the proposed withdrawal from the
Iran nuclear deal,[9]
and has criticized budget cuts that hamper the ability to
monitor the impacts of climate change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Mattis
-- 2016 --
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December 1: Trump picks retired Marine Gen.
James Mattis for secretary of defense
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/2016/12/01/6c6b3b74-aff9-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b492b9be3424
-- 2017 --
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May 29: James Mattis, a Warrior in
Washington
The former Marine Corps general spent four decades on the front lines. How will
he lead the Department of Defense?
On January 22nd, two days after President Trump was inaugurated, he received a
memo from his new Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, recommending that the
United States launch a military strike in Yemen. In a forty-year career, Mattis,
a retired Marine Corps general and a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, had cultivated a reputation for being both deeply thoughtful and extremely
aggressive. By law and by custom, the position of Defense Secretary is reserved
for civilians, but Mattis was still a marine at heart. He had been out of the
military for only three years (the rule is seven), and his appointment required
Congress to pass a waiver. For the first time in his professional life, he was
going to the Pentagon in a suit and tie.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/james-mattis-a-warrior-in-washington
-- 2018 --
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September 5: Mattis to Spicer: ‘I’ve killed
people for a living. If you call me again, I’m going to f--king send you to
Afghanistan’
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis didn’t favorably receive former Press Secretary
Sean Spicer’s repeated requests to get the retired Marine Corps general to
appear on numerous talk shows, according to an
excerpt from Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “Fear:
Trump in the White House."
According to one passage in the book, an exasperated Mattis, having answered
“no” a number of times already, lashed out at Spicer, who is an
officer in the Navy Reserve.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/09/05/mattis-to-spicer-ive-killed-people-for-a-living-if-you-call-me-again-im-going-to-f-king-send-you-to-afghanistan/
December 19:
Republicans rip Trump’s surprise Syria withdrawal in meeting with Pence
GOP senators told the vice president they were outraged by Trump’s move.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Pence he was "personally offended" to read
about the decision in the news rather than hearing from the president or his
aides. Graham has grown close to Trump and has generally praised him though he
often criticized the president during the 2016 campaign.
"We're going to hold the administration accountable for this decision," Graham
recounted telling Pence. "If Obama had done this, all of us would be going nuts
because it's such a bad idea. The job of the Congress is to hold the executive
branch accountable. He's the commander in chief, but he needs to be held
accountable for his decisions. And I want hearings as soon as possible."
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker also told reporters that he was
blindsided by the announcement and is seeking answers from Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Leading Democrats on the panel also
expressed concern.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/trump-us-troops-in-syria-1068734
December 20: As recently as March, many of
the Trump administration’s top officials on national security – including
Defense Secretary James Mattis, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and White House
National Security Advisor John Bolton – all declared with confidence that the
United States was
committed to a long-term military commitment in Syria. Their boss disagreed.
After weeks of contradictions, in which the president and his team sent
competing signals about U.S. policy in Syria, the Washington Post,
citing White House advisers,
reported that Trump was “operating on a tornado of impulses – and with no
clear strategy.”
It is difficult, at least for now, to assess the details of the administration’s
new policy, because no one seems to know what it is. Will any U.S. forces remain
in Syria? When will the withdrawal begin? When will it end? What has the White
House done to prepare for the likely consequences?
[These are life-or-death questions in one of the most complex security
environments on the planet, and neither the president nor anyone in his
administration has even tried to provide the most basic answers.]
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-syria-withdrawal-case-study-post-policy-governing
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December 20: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
resigned on Thursday while citing a litany of differences with President Donald
Trump on over how to treat allies and the need for a more "resolute" approach to
Russia.
His departure ends a nearly two-year stint in which Mattis went from a darling
of the Cabinet to a dissident on a host of issues, including Trump's desire for
a Space Force and his deployment of thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexican
border. But the final straw may have been Trump's abrupt announcement this week
that he would pull all U.S. forces from Syria, a move that shocked key allies in
the region.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/20/mattis-to-retire-in-february-trump-says-1072150
December 20: Jim Mattis quits as Pentagon
chief after clashes with Trump, including over Syria exit and abandoning Kurds
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/21/world/politics-diplomacy-world/jim-mattis-quits-pentagon-chief-clashes-trump-including-syria-exit-abandoning-kurds/#.XBwwGaUoHTQ
December 20: Jim Mattis, the four-star
Marine general turned defense secretary, resigned on Thursday in protest of
President Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 American troops from Syria, where
they have been fighting the Islamic State.
Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House on Thursday afternoon
in a last attempt to convince Mr. Trump to keep American troops in Syria. He was
rebuffed, and told the president that he was resigning as a result.
“This is scary,” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the
Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a tweet. He called Mr. Mattis “an island
of stability amidst the chaos of the Trump administration.”
“As we’ve seen with the President’s haphazard approach to Syria, our national
defense is too important to be subjected to the President’s erratic whims,” Mr.
Warner
wrote in the Twitter post.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee,
said on Twitter that Mr. Mattis’s resignation letter “makes it abundantly
clear that we are headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will
endanger our nation, damage our alliances & empower our adversaries.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/jim-mattis-defense-secretary-trump.html
December 20: Defense Secretary James Mattis,
who strongly opposed President Trump’s abrupt decision to
yank US troops from Syria, will leave office at the end of February, the
commander-in-chief announced Thursday.
“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February,
after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two
years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with
respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment,” Trump
wrote
on Twitter.
But Mattis, a retired general, suggested in a scathing resignation letter that
he could no longer work for Trump — detailing his belief in strong relations
with traditional US allies, whom Trump has regularly scorned.
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“One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is
inextricably linked to the strength our unique and comprehensive system of
alliances and partnerships,” Mattis wrote to Trump in a letter read aloud by a
reporter on CNN.
“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.”
https://nypost.com/2018/12/20/james-mattis-is-out-as-defense-secretary-trump-announces/
December 20: “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 on
these issues,” Mattis wrote. “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.”
The tone of Mattis’s resignation letter clashed with Trump’s own announcement,
which came shortly before the letter was released. Trump characterized Mattis’s
decision to quit as a retirement.
Mattis ... was considered by many to be one of the president’s most critical
Cabinet members in part because he acted as a strong check against Trump’s worst
national security impulses.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/20/17168030/mattis-trump-defense-secretary-retires-tweet
December 21: Mattis resignation triggered by
phone call between Trump and Erdoğan
US president complied with Turkish leader’s demands and took own advisers by
surprise, accounts say
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/21/james-mattis-resignation-trump-erdogan-phone-call
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