Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Meet 'Mad Dog' Mattis

Say what you will about Donald ('Grab Them by the Pussy') Trump, we can at least take some courage from the fact that that he'll be advised by some of the best and brightest (not to mention feminist) minds America has to offer. For example: 

"General James Mattis, who retired in 2013 after a 44-year career, met Mr Trump yesterday at the president-elect's golf club... A senior commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, he fell out of favour during the Obama administration for his tough stance on Iran. The selection of General Mattis as defence secretary would cap a national security team that is strikingly more bellicose and uncompromising than that of Mr Obama.

"General Mattis, 66, nicknamed 'Mad Dog', attracted controversy and admiration in 2005 when he said shooting Taliban fighters was fun and mocked their sexual potency. 'You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,' he said. 'You know guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.'

"A year earlier he had commanded US marines in the battle of Fallujah. During the Iraq invasion, a young platoon commander was shocked to find General Mattis, then a brigadier-general, in a fighting hole with a sergeant and a lance corporal. General Mattis used the dictum: 'Be polite, be professional but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.' He was also nicknamed the 'warrior monk' and is said to own more than 7000 books. He impressed on his troops the need to be culturally sensitive and stressed that humanitarian actions would undermine the Islamist enemies." (Carter & Clapper seek to oust admiral eyed by new president, AFP, The Sunday Times/ The Australian, 21/11/16)

7,000 books? Check out these li'l beauties from LtGen James Mattis' Reading List, Small Wars Journal (5/6/07):

Israel's Lebanese War, A Preliminary Assessment - Dr. Martin van Creveld, The RUSI Journal, October 2006
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War & Unholy Terror - Bernard Lewis
What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East - Bernard Lewis
From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman
Hatred's Kingdom - Dore Gold
The Arab Mind - Raphael Patai
A Peace to End All Peace - David Fromkin
The Arab Israeli Wars - Chaim Herzog

No nasty Edward Said stuff there...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Trump tangles with the Zionist Tar Baby and gets, predictably, covered with tar.