Tag Archives: DoD

military news

Hoping that Mattis stays put

This news is distressing in the extreme.

The one individual serving in the Donald J. Trump administration that I want to stay might be calling it a day. Defense Secretary James Mattis reportedly, allegedly, supposedly is on the bubble.

He might bail from the administration. It has been reported that the defense boss is unhappy with the commander in chief. Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” attributes some unkind remarks from the retired Marine Corps general about the president.

He has opposed Trump’s policy pronouncements, such as the one that bans transgender troops from serving in the military. Mattis also believes the U.S. pullout from the Paris climate accord is a mistake. And, as Woodward reported in “Fear,” Mattis had to explain to the president that the presence of 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea is intended to “prevent World War III.”

I will refrain from attaching the “Mad Dog” nickname to Mattis; he reportedly hates the term, so I won’t use it other than to refer to it.

Mattis is a grownup. He is a tested combat veteran who knows full well the consequences of war.

He is mature. He is reasonable. He is measured.

Mattis is precisely the kind of presence that Donald Trump needs close to him in times of crisis.

And, so what if James Mattis is “sort of a Democrat,” as Trump has said? Defense policy should be far removed from partisan politics.

national news

Wyoming: stranger political climate than Texas?

CASPER, Wyo. — I love this state. It’s spacious, gorgeous and virtually uninhabited.

It’s the 10th-largest state in the union in terms of area; but it ranks No. 50 in terms of population, with about 580,000 residents scattered across 97,000 square miles.

It also has a single U.S. House of Representatives member representing it, along with two U.S. senators, Republicans John Barrasso and Mike Enzi.

And what about that member of Congress? She is Liz Cheney, who happens to be the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Here’s where the strangeness of Wyoming politics comes into play. Our friend Tom — a longtime journalist of some standing here — was showing us around Casper and he told me that Wyoming isn’t too keen on carpetbaggers, the politician who barely knows a region he or she wants to represent in government.

Why, then, did Wyoming elect Liz Cheney, who grew up in Washington, D.C., while her dad was serving in the Defense Department, Congress and as President Ford’s chief of staff before being elected VP in 2000?

Tom’s answer: “Because she has an ‘R’ next to her name and her dad happens to be the former vice president of the United States.”

I don’t have a particular problem with carpetbaggers. Indeed, my first political hero — the late Robert F. Kennedy — carried that title when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964. So did Hillary Rodham Clinton when she ran for RFK’s old seat in 2000 after serving eight years as first lady of the United States. Indeed, Mitt Romney — the former Massachusetts governor — is facing down the carpetbagger demon as he runs for the Senate in Utah.

I do find it cool, too, that a U.S. House member can represent the same constituency as two U.S. senators. Indeed, senators tend at times to lord it over House members that they represent entire states while their House colleagues have to settle for representing a measly House district.

Not so in Wyoming, where equality between the “upper” and “lower” congressional chambers is alive and well.

military news, national news, political news

Get ready for Mattis vs. Bolton

Donald Trump’s national security team just cannot get its legs under it. It cannot function as a cohesive team that imparts advice to a president who is willing to (a) listen to it and (b) follow it.

With that we now have a new national security adviser, uber-super hawk John Bolton who quite likely will clash openly with Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis.

I’m going to pull for Mad Dog to win this fight, although Bolton now is the man of the hour, the guy who’s got the president’s ear.

Heaven help us if Bolton’s world view carries the day in the West Wing of the White House.

Bolton is known around the world as one with an itchy trigger finger. He favors pre-emptive military action against North Korea. Indeed, he has favored “putting boots on the ground” in places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan … you name it, Bolton wants to flex U.S. military muscle.

He despises the nuclear arms deal worked out by the Obama administration that seeks to de-nuclearize Iran.

There’s Bolton’s profile in brief.

How about Mattis? He favors the Iran nuclear deal. He believes it is working and is worth retaining. And North Korea? Well, the retired Marine Corps general, a decorated combat veteran to boot, believes diplomacy should remain as Option No. 1 in our efforts to talk the reclusive Marxist regime out of striking at South Korea, or Japan — or the United States of America!

Mattis’s world view is forged by a career that has seen him serve up close in harm’s way. Bolton’s world view comes from a different perspective. He doesn’t have the kind of front-line military experience that Mattis does; Bolton served six years in the Maryland Army National Guard.

I want to bring this to your attention only to suggest that there might be yet another ideological storm brewing within the Trump White House.

As I have noted before, “Mad Dog” Mattis is one of the few grownups who have signed on to serve this president.

I do not believe John Bolton falls into that category of public servant.

International news, military news

‘Mad Dog’ sounding reasonable, rational

I am continually amazed that a senior federal government official with the nickname of “Mad Dog” sounds so reasonable, calm and rational in the face of potentially grave danger.

So it is with Defense Secretary James Mattis, who today sought to assure the world that war with North Korea is not imminent in the wake of that country’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“Mad Dog” Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, said that the United States is “not closer to war” with North Korea. Meanwhile, other officials — including the president of the United States — keep rattling their proverbial swords while talking of possible retaliation if the North Koreans were to launch a missile at us or one of our allies.

Maybe it’s Mattis’s experience as a combat officer that builds in a certain calmness. He’s been to war, has led Americans in combat and he knows better than, say, the president himself about the high costs associated with armed conflict.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is traveling in Europe and he warned of “severe consequences” as a result of North Korea’s “dangerous” behavior.

I am not minimizing the potential for grave danger here. I just prefer to have cooler heads dominate the conversation in the White House Situation Room.

As of now, the calmest voice in the room appears to belong to “Mad Dog.” Ironic, yes?

environmental news

Thanks be to Mad Dog for sounding rational

That did it.

It’s official. James “Mad Dog” Mattis is my favorite member of Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet.

The secretary of defense has spoken in direct contradiction to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the president of the United States by declaring — be sure you’re sitting down — that climate change is real and it presents a threat to our national security.

Who would have thought that a retired Marine general with the nickname of “Mad Dog” would emerge as the premier grownup in the new president’s Cabinet.

Here’s part of what Mattis said, according to the Huffington Post: “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” Mattis said in written answers to questions posed after the public hearing by Democratic members of the committee. “It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning.”

Trump has said climate change is a hoax perpetrated by “the Chinese.” The EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, has sued the EPA more than a dozen times and has called for its elimination. He has expressed openly his belief that climate change is not real, joining a paltry list of climate change deniers.

Now we have a defense secretary making sense. He calls climate change a national threat. His remarks well might reveal fissures within the Trump administration. As the Huffington Post reports: “These remarks and others in the replies to senators could be a fresh indication of divisions or uncertainty within President Donald Trump’s administration over how to balance the president’s desire to keep campaign pledges to kill Obama-era climate policies with the need to engage constructively with allies for whom climate has become a vital security issue.”

Semper fi, Gen. Mattis.