******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
NY Times, Dec. 20, 2018
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Resigns, Rebuking Trump’s Worldview
By Helene Cooper
WASHINGTON — 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.
Mr. Trump announced the resignation in two tweets Thursday evening, and
said Mr. Mattis will leave at the end of February.
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.
Hours later, the Pentagon released Mr. Mattis’ resignation letter, in
which he implicitly criticized his commander in chief. Mr. Mattis said
in the letter that he believes that the president deserves a defense
secretary who is more in tune with his worldview.
“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,” Mr. Mattis wrote.
“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,” he wrote.
His departure leaves the Trump administration without one of the few
officials viewed as standing between a mercurial president and global
tumult. The president said he would name Mr. Mattis’ replacement shortly.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
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....
26.1K
5:21 PM - Dec 20, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
17.9K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· 1h
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....
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....equipment. General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies
and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new
Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his
service!
The president’s tweets announcing the departure of his defense secretary
shocked officials at the Pentagon, who as recently as Thursday afternoon
were insisting that Mr. Mattis had no intention of resigning his post,
despite his anger at Mr. Trump’s decision, announced on Wednesday, to
withdraw American troops from Syria.
Mr. Mattis had told close friends that he would continue in the job
despite his deteriorating relationship with Mr. Trump, because he viewed
his commitment to protecting the Defense Department and its 1.3 million
active duty service members as paramount.
The widely accepted narrative that Mr. Mattis was the adult in the room
when at the White House came to annoy Mr. Trump. In October, the
president accused Mr. Mattis of being a Democrat — a charge akin to
treason in the current Republican administration.
“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.
As defense secretary, Mr. Mattis oversaw the world’s most powerful
military, supervising active-duty troops based in the United States and
deployed worldwide, including in war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and on
the Saudi border with Yemen. There are also around 25,000 American
troops in South Korea, where they have served for generations as a
deterrent against North Korea.
As with Mr. Trump’s abrupt firing of Jeff Sessions, the attorney
general, the split with Mr. Mattis was a full turn in a relationship
that once appeared strong.
In Mr. Mattis’s early days as defense secretary, he often ate dinner
with Mr. Trump in the White House residence. Over hamburgers, and with
the help of briefing folders, he explained to the president key points
about America’s relationships with allies.
But Mr. Mattis also quietly slow-walked a number of Mr. Trump’s
proposals, from banning transgender troops to starting a Space Force to
putting on a costly military parade. In each case, he went through the
motions of acquiescing to the White House — and then buried the plans in
Defense Department red tape.
Over the past six months, the president and the defense chief have also
found themselves at odds over NATO policy, whether to resume large-scale
military exercises with South Korea and, privately, whether Mr. Trump’s
decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal has
proved effective.
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
