Nominated last week to replace Gen. David Petraeus as the head of the US Central Command, the Marine Corps’ Gen. Jim Mattis may be the finest four-star on duty in any service today.
He’s certainly the humblest. And maybe the smartest — but he’ll let you figure that out for yourself.
If confirmed, Mattis will team with Petraeus on AfPak, but he’ll also be responsible for the vast surrounding region. He won’t micromanage Petraeus. Instead, he’ll support his nominal subordinate every way he can. He’ll build the frame, letting Petraeus paint the Afghan canvas.
But Mattis won’t be shy about making his views known behind closed doors, either.
If we gain a measure of success in Afghanistan, he’d be content to give Petraeus the glory. If things go south, though, Mattis would shoulder his share of the blame. He’s that kind of guy.
Grunts respect Petraeus. But they love Jim Mattis.
His nickname among Marines is the “Warrior Monk” — because he’s dedicated his life to the Corps.
Mattis not only commanded at all levels, but fought in Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. As commander of the 1st Marine Division in Iraq in 2004, he faced the first Fallujah crisis.
In the runup to that battle, Mattis opposed acting in haste, but he saluted and executed the Bush administration’s orders. His Marines came within a day of driving al Qaeda and its auxiliaries from the city — only to be called off short of victory when the White House buckled to political pressure after the media stepped in to rescue the terrorists from the ferocious Marine assault.
It must have been heartbreaking for Mattis, after the sacrifices his Marines had made. But he saluted and marched on.
And Mattis isn’t just a gung-ho battlefield leader (one of the last at his rank, it sometimes seems). He’s astute at the intricacies of foreign policy. A serious reader, his studies reach far beyond the pop texts that content most officers.
He also has the ability — rare among senior generals — to really listen, whether to a colonel or a lance corporal. When he asks questions, they’re incisive, not ego-driven. He’s independent-minded, endlessly curious, morally and physically courageous — and unfashionably ethical.
So the left-wing media hate him. Not only is Mattis a fighter in the great Marine tradition, he doesn’t pretend he’d rather be running a soup kitchen in San Francisco.
The media have conditioned Army generals to apologize for their profession (when they’re not pandering to Islamist terrorists). But lefty journalists will never forgive Mattis for stating, back in 2005, that he enjoys being a Marine.
I sat beside Mattis on a panel in San Diego when he made his “infamous” remarks about taking pleasure in killing the worst of our nation’s enemies. I don’t think he knew there were reporters present. (It was a closed-door session for Marine and Navy officers.) So he spoke the way authentic warriors do.
He was spanked for it. (Wouldn’t want honest generals, would we?) And he won’t make that error again. Yet, when his nomination as CENTCOM commander was announced at a Pentagon press session last week, CNN’s Barbara Starr was seething.
Uninterested in anything else about this great Marine, she read Mattis’ 2005 remarks for the cameras, implying that any Marine who enjoys being a Marine should be kept away from terrorists and children.
Starr got no traction with Defense Secretary Robert Gates or Adm. Mike Mullen (probably the team that got Mattis the job). Yet the incident was revealing, to say the least.
For what it’s worth, Mattis didn’t seek this appointment. He was set to retire this autumn and “go back to rural Washington and grow onions.” But when his president and country called, he stepped up yet again.
Personally, I’d been disappointed a few weeks back when Mattis wasn’t selected to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan. (President Obama made the politically astute choice of Petraeus.) I would’ve preferred to have Mattis on the ground fighting, with Petraeus retained at CENTCOM.
Petraeus can fight, but his reputation makes him a useful military diplomat. While Mattis, too, can woo the Grand Wazoo of Upchuckistan, he would’ve promptly swept away much of the touchy-feely b.s. crippling our Afghan effort. Mattis is less interested in theories than in what actually works.
Still, if this splendid Marine is confirmed, we’ll have the finest military team in place to deal with AfPak and the rest of the region (Iran’s on Mattis’ dance card, too) that we’ve ever had.
Maybe there’s hope.