Will Defense Secretary Mattis help or harm Israel?

“General Mattis has notably and indisputably distinguished himself in advocating for a more robust US military posture to counter, contain and deter Iran, even at the peril of his military career…

JTA

James Mattis

President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate as defense secretary Gen. James Mattis, a pick that has already stirred controversy among right-wing pro-Israel groups, with some lamenting the choice and others praising it.

“We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump said Thursday at his first post-election rally, in Cincinnati, and using the nickname for the retired Marines general.

Late last month, when it first emerged that Trump was considering Mattis for the job, the Zionist Organization of America said it would oppose the pick, citing a 2013 appearance at the Aspen Security Forum shortly after he retired as chief of the US Central Command.

“I paid a military-security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel,” Mattis said then of his job, which involves interactions with America’s Arab allies.

He also warned that the United States urgently needed to press the Israelis and the Palestinians to advance to a two-state solution.

“Either it ceases to be a Jewish state or you say the Arabs don’t get to vote — apartheid. That didn’t work too well the last time I saw that practiced in a country,” Mattis said.

The ZOA said in its statement that Mattis’ remarks were “hostile to Israel, and revealed a lack of appreciation for and understanding of the extraordinary value to American security resulting from a strong American-Israeli alliance and a secure Israel.”

The rebuke drew an unusual defense of Mattis from another right-of-center Jewish group, the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs.

Emphasizing that it does not endorse candidates, JINSA said it understood objections to Mattis’ remarks at Aspen, but commended him for his posture on broader Middle East issues, particularly his vehement opposition to last year’s deal between major world powers and Iran trading sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program.

“General Mattis has notably and indisputably distinguished himself in advocating for a more robust US military posture to counter, contain and deter Iran, even at the peril of his military career, and its importance to American security and the restoration of America’s position in the Middle East – views JINSA has strongly propounded,” its statement said, alluding the reports that the Obama administration ousted Mattis because of his opposition to the deal then emerging with Iran.

More recently, according to LobeLog, a Middle East analysis website, Mattis in April said in an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that there was “no going back” on the Iran deal as long as the country observed its terms. He continued to maintain that Iran was the “single most belligerent actor in the Middle East.”

Trump himself has said the deal is the worst he has ever examined, but also has delivered mixed signals on whether he would pull the United States out of the agreement.

A former senior staffer for Obama’s National Security Council, Steven Simon, told The Washington Post that Mattis had earned the respect of the Israelis by frequently visiting Israel during his CentCom command, even though the country was not in his purview. Military relations with Israel are the province of the European Command.

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Trump to nominate retired Gen. James Mattis to lead Pentagon

AP

The pugnacious retired general once warned Israel that continued construction in the West Bank decreases the chances of peace while increasing likelihood of Israel becoming an apartheid state; Mattis was also one of the most outspoken critics of the Iran nuclear deal.

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he will nominate retired Gen. James Mattis to be his defense secretary, making the announcement at a post-election victory rally in Cincinnati.

Mattis, a 66-year-old Marine Corps general who retired in 2013 after serving as the commander of the US Central Command, once warned Israel that continued construction in the West Bank would decrease the chances of peace while increasing the likelihood of Israel becoming an apartheid state. He was also one of the most outspoken opponents of the Iran nuclear deal.
His selection raises questions about increased military influence in a job designed to insure civilian control of the armed forces. The concerns revolve around whether a recently retired service member would rely more on military solutions to international problems, rather than take a broader, more diplomatic approach.For Mattis to be confirmed, Congress would first have to approve legislation bypassing a law that bars retired military officers from becoming defense secretary within seven years of leaving active duty.
Mattis has a reputation as a battle-hardened, tough-talking Marine who was entrusted with some of the most challenging commands in the US military. In a tweet last month, Trump referred to Mattis by his nickname “Mad Dog” and described him as “A true General’s General!”
Mattis would be only the second retired general to serve as defense secretary, the first being George C. Marshall in 1950-51 during the Korean War. Marshall was a much different figure, having previously served as US secretary of state and playing a key role in creating closer ties with Western Europe after World War II.
The only previous exception to the law requiring a gap after military service was for Marshall.
Although his record in combat and his credentials as a senior commander are widely admired, Mattis has little experience in the diplomatic aspects of the job of secretary of defense.
Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security, described Mattis as a defense intellectual and as a military leader who distinguished himself in combat.
“He knows the Middle East, South Asia, NATO and other areas and has evinced both a nuanced approach to the wars we’re in and an appreciation for the importance of allies,” Fontaine said in an email exchange. “If he were to get the nomination, I suspect that he could attract a number of very talented people to work with him.”

But Mattis hasn’t been immune to controversy. He was criticized for remarking in 2005 that he enjoyed shooting people. He also drew more recent scrutiny for his involvement with the embattled biotech company Theranos, where he serves on the board.

Trump with Mattis (Photo: AP)

Born in Pullman, Washington, Mattis enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1969, later earning a history degree from Central Washington University. He was commissioned as an officer in 1972. As a lieutenant colonel, Mattis led an assault battalion into Kuwait during the first US war with Iraq in 1991.

As head of the Central Command from 2010 until his retirement in 2013, he was in charge of both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Mattis commanded the Marines who launched an early amphibious assault into Afghanistan and established a US foothold in the Taliban heartland.
As the first wave of Marines moved toward Kandahar, Mattis declared that, “The Marines have landed, and now we own a piece of Afghanistan.”
Two years later, he helped lead the invasion into Iraq in 2003 as the two-star commander of the 1st Marine Division.
In 2005, he raised eyebrows when he told a San Diego forum that it was “fun to shoot some people.”

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

 

According to a recording of his remarks, Mattis said, “Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. … It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up front with you, I like brawling.” 

He added, “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil,” Mattis continued. “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.”

Mattis was counselled to choose his words more carefully.
A year later, Mattis came under scrutiny during one of the more high-profile criminal investigations of the Iraq war, the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqis by Marines.
The Iraqis, who included unarmed women and children, were killed by Marines in the town of Haditha after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb. Eight Marines were charged in connection with the killings — four enlisted men were charged with unpremeditated murder and four officers who weren’t there at the time were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths.
As commander of the accused Marines’ parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Mattis ultimately dismissed charges against most of the Marines.
As a top Marine general, Mattis pushed for the military to adopt blood-testing technology developed by Theranos.
As reported by The Washington Post , Mattis first met Theranos founder Elizabeth A. Holmes in 2011. A year later, according to emails obtained by The Post, Holmes used her connection to Mattis to pressure him to intervene after a Pentagon official raised concerns that the company was distributing its technology without approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

The emails show within hours after Holmes asked Mattis for help, he forwarded her email to other military officials asking them,”how do we overcome this new obstacle.”

Mattis joined the Theranos board the same year he retired. The company, which raised hundreds of millions of dollars on the promise of breakthrough blood-testing technology, was forced to invalidate two years of patients’ test results after the reliability of its proprietary blood-testing machinery was questioned by internal and government whistleblowers and investigative reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

December 2, 2016 | 11 Comments »

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11 Comments / 11 Comments

  1. Govt.shuts down Friday if Senate fails to approve fast-track for Mattis.

    “House Lawmakers Approve Bill Fast-Tracking Mattis Confirmation
    Continuing resolution passes House, advances to Senate”

    “…If the Senate does not pass the continuing resolution by midnight Friday, the federal government will shut down…”

    “..While Mattis has been praised by both Democrats and Republicans as well as current leaders at the Pentagon, a few Democrats have vowed to oppose the waiver…”

    “…Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the Washington Post on Saturday that Democrats should approve a waiver to allow Mattis to become defense secretary under the Trump administration. Current Defense Secretary Ash Carter has also voiced support for Trump’s choice, congratulating Mattis and describing him as a friend he holds in “the highest regard.”..

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-lawmakers-approve-bill-fast-tracking-mattis-confirmation/

  3. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says she deeply respects retired Marine Gen. James Mattis’ service, but she plans to oppose waiver allowing him to serve as Defense secretary because “civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy.”

    According to federal law, military personnel must be separated from the service for at least seven years, or obtain a Congressional waiver in order to serve in senior defense posts, but Mattis retired just three years ago, and Gillibrand said this week that she will “not vote for an exception to this rule,” reports The Washington Free Beacon.

    Gillibrand, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, could potentially derail Trump’s appointment, if she can convince Democrats to vote against granting the Mattis waiver. At least eight Democrats will need to vote on the waiver for it to pass with a required 60 votes, reports Politico. http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Gillibrand-Vows-Oppose-Mattis/2016/12/03/id/762003/

    Trump may end up to need picking a civilian or someone out of the military more than 7 years. The last waiver for this was after WWII for General Marshall.

  4. @ ArnoldHarris:
    @ LtCol Howard:

    If only. But, in the real world:

    “unlike in most Western democracies, where the military is usually considered more hawkish than the civilian leadership, in Netanyahu’s Israel, it’s usually been the other way around. Out of the 17 most senior security and intelligence chiefs who have worked directly with Netanyahu during his time in office, no fewer than 13 have strongly criticized his flagship policies or the direction in which he is leading the country (of the four that haven’t, two are currently still in office).”
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/netanyahu-prime-minister-obama-president-foreign-policy-us-israel-israeli-relations-middle-east-iran-defense-forces-idf-214004

    “Bibi: You once observed that “… in the Middle East, the only peace that will hold is a peace you can defend.”

    ‘It’s time that you take your own advice by not succumbing to the pressure being exerted on you to accept the Auschwitz lines. In so doing, you will actually promote peace and not imperil it.”

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/20/the-1967-lines-are-auschwitz-borders/

  7. We will find in the future if Mattis is good for the USA and good for Israel.

    His talks about Israel in the past were the same as the Arabists in the State Department. That is not comforting to anyone who has observed or dealt with these type of people in the past.

    He will still need a waiver bill passed by Congress and signed by the POTUS to be able to work in the Defense Dept. because he is not out of the military 7 years. If the GOP were to pass such a bill now, would Obama pass it? Is such a bill subject to filibuster? If not are their enough DEMS who would support such a bill?

  8. I am not interested in opinions USMC General Mattis may hold about Israel. That’s not what he has been appointed for.

    In any case, Israel is a sovereign state. As such, the sovereign State of Israel has an obligation to its own citizens in particular and to the Jewish nation in general to defend itself against military attack and to balance its foreign relations so that it does not remain or become a dependency of the United States of America. Everyone reading this comment knows as well as I do that dependency begins with good intentions, but that dependents soon become permanently despised.

    Ignore that dictum at your peril. Because the popular mood in this country is becoming America First and the rest of the world at best a distant second. You owe it to yourselves to develop the best of possible relationships with Russia, China, India and all other independent states which have reason to hate and fear the Moslem threat to the independence of all non-Moslem societies and cultures; and who — because of that hatred and fear — have good reason to want Israel as a well-positioned ally.

    It is up to everyone in Israel to replace the present system of weak and foolish liberalism with authentic Jewish nationalism.

    Arnold Harris, Outspeaker

  10. Mattis as SecDef Looking forward to hear, in his confirmation hearing, what Gen Mattis thinks about Israel now. He is reputed to be a real scholar, and student of history. Perhaps the UNESCO vote on the Palestinian Temple Mount changed Mattis’ mind.

    I am sure Mattis DID hear the ‘Israel settlement’ complaint from many of the military in CENTCOM-region nations.

    A Mattis confirmation hearing might be the best way to discuss the Rules of Engagement that keep America from winning wars since Korea, but the Dems will focus on whether Mattis would continue the DoD focus on climate change, and women in combat positions.

    No one should ever underestimate how much the USMC wants to destroy Hezbollah, since the Beirut barracks bombing.

  11. He has agreed to work FOR Trump. He will support and push the Trump agenda! Past performance are no predictor of future performance!