“You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. 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.” – Defense Secretary nominee General James N. Mattis [via wikiquotes.com]
“A soldier walks a mile in the enemy’s shoes. A true warrior wears his skin like a fu#king poncho.”
https://www.google.com/amp/twitchy.com/loriz-3139/2016/12/02/badass-trump-secretary-of-defense-pick-james-mad-dog-mattis-sparks-awesome-mattisquotes/amp/
I cannot wait.
I don’t know. That sounds horribly bigoted against other cultures. Who are we to decide that mutilating the genitals of 12 year old girls before gang raping them then stoning them to death for it is wrong?
Judging is one thing, but acting is another. 15 years, 20,000+ wounded, 2,400+/- killed, minimum $700 billion spent fighting in Afghanistan.
Don’t they still practice their horrific death cult culture there today?
This country isn’t prepared to do what must be done. In that environment, half measures are worse than doing nothing. Just build a wall, ban the Muslims, and leave the rest to destroy each other outside. No more crusading. No more ungrateful liberating. No more moral masturbation.
Agree. I’d rather we not be involved in any way whatsoever. Your problems are not mine and mine are not yours.
But if we’re going to meddle we should be all in and get it done. Half measures waste lives and money and only benefit the military-industrial complex.
I look forward to hearing the complaints of cowards who would never volunteer to fight and possibly get killed.
Like the chicken hawk democrats who were so happy to bomb Serbia in the 1990s. Even the JINO senator Bernie Sanders who said he hates war totally supported this war crime against the Constitution. The Serbia nation never hurt any American.
In fact during WW2 serbian fighters rescued hundreds of downed US aircrews, saving them from nazi soldiers.
I like honestly from military commanders. It gets fewer of our guys killed but kills lots more of the enemy. That is a very good thing.
“…You’ve got dirty work to do, and you might as well face facts. You’re going to be baby-killers and women -killers…”
Col. Darr H. Alkire
Commander 100th Bombardment Group (H)
Summer 1944
From the book “Flying Fortress” by Edward Jablowski. (1965)
Military-industrial-congressional complex. Eisenhower chickened out.
You may have missed it, but just in the last week documents were released (by the Obama administration?) showing the information they got out of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed down in Guantanamo. Turns out that Al Qaeda had more attacks planned but that all got tossed because they were too busy high tailing it for the most remote cave they could find. They thought we’d treat 9/11 like a law enforcement matter, not an act of war. They thought we’d turn tail and run like we did in Lebanon, Somalia, etc. He said they had no idea that we had elected a cowboy who would have the country invaded and conquered in barely over a month. Say what you want about our attempts at nation building (and I hope we’ve learned some lessons where that’s concerned), but the invasion of Afghanistan prevented more large scale 9/11 style attacks. It also taught all the right people not to fuck with us. Unfortunately the next President came in and pissed everything we away.
Keep in mind we ended the Taliban with 400 men, some with horses and B-52 bombers with comm links and lasers. Not to employ those assets when ISIS head southeast on a lone main road allowed thousands to be murdered.
Obama’s policy of appeasement and bowing to a Saudi King, told third world thugs all they need to know about our Commander & Chief.
Conquered? Hardly. More like we won Phase One, then promptly screwed the pooch on Phases Two thru Five.
“…we ended the Taliban …”
Hmm, that’s weird, the Taliban don’t agree.
by the way, for those who never read it “Horse Soldiers” is a great read about the early days of the war that reads more like an action movie than historical biography. It’s worth the squeeze
“they had no idea that we had elected a cowboy who would have the country invaded and conquered in barely over a month.”
Well done. Then we should have killed off most of the country’s leaders and been home nursing a beer in another month, after making it clear we could do it all again 6 months from now, if necessary. The internal wars and murder would have gone on for years before anyone was even able to claim they were in control, lots and lots of iron-age people would not bother us again, and the world would think twice before kicking off another cowardly attack on *this* country. Instead, we had to be nice.
“They thought we’d treat 9/11 like a law enforcement matter, not an act of war. They thought we’d turn tail and run like we did in Lebanon, Somalia, etc.”
And we *would have*, if not for 500 or so votes in Florida that elected Bush instead of that fvckwit Al Gore. (Who invented the internet. And was the inspiration for the movie ‘Love Story’)
Trump will be most un-known president to foreign leaders in modern time. Some country is going to test him, see what he’s made of. Kim Jong Un, Putin, etc.
I hope we’re up for it…
Nation building is a waste of time. It’s a relatively new idea, only one nation in history has ever done it and just because it worked in Japan and Europe, doesn’t mean it will work everywhere.
You can certainly make an argument that, on balance, we’d be better off today had we left all the dictators in place. Hussein, Gaddafi, Mubarak, now Assad, etc. Let them be the brutal bastards who control their people. But that doesn’t mean we let them off the hook.
We’re very good and going in and kicking ass. Bad at sticking around. We should stick to our knitting. Go in, sove the problem, load up the C-130s and GTFO. What we don’t bring back, there’s Thermite.
“See ya. Try not to piss us off again.”
“Nation building is a waste of time. It’s a relatively new idea, only one nation in history has ever done it and just because it worked in Japan and Europe, doesn’t mean it will work everywhere.”
Genghis, his offspring, numerous Roman emperors, and William of Normandy would like to have a word with you.
‘We’re very good and going in and kicking ass. Bad at sticking around.’
This is the issue with nation building – if it’s going to work you need a multi-generational commitment. Bush’s big mistake was thinking we’d be done and out of there before his term was over. Americans are fickle people. We love kicking ass but quickly get bored and want to go home. Therefore Bush should have known that the people would bring in a Democrat who would piss it all away.
Nah, you’re all f’d, you’re forgetting human nature. Caesar nearly codified it in his “Commentari de Bello Gallo” [58–49 BC] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico third person narrative of his conquering of Gaul and Great Britain. Great Britain was filled with a people so wild that after conquering them and leaving for one year, when he returned he had to conquer them again, because he didn’t leave enough of the wild crazy f-ers around to record the event that they’d been conquered.
The math goes like this:
1 Generation = 4 years
AT A MINIMUM – 2 Generations worth of Occupation is REQUIRED for the people to remember it {another reason why the Obama Bug Out happened in 2011 [because his generals wouldn’t let him do it sooner]}
if you want to do “nation building” because you are bored and it may actually work, what the f ever.
BUT UUCK FOU TO ALL THE AHOLES THAT SAY WE DIDN’T DO SOME GOOD OVER IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. The live birth rate went up a whole % pt. for every month we were in Iraq. And people in Afghanistan learned that drinking water is not brown on purpose.
Actually, if you look at Europe, as far as nation building goes, we failed. Collectivism won the day. If you look at Rome and the Khan’s, they also failed. Where is Rome now, just a fiefdom for the catholic church, and Mongolia? This isn’t even about keeping your nose out of your neighbors business, it’s about keeping your nose out of someone else’s business who you were told about third hand, who resides several states over. If you genuinely are concerned to that degree by every stone age moron, child rapist, superstition believing turd, how do you get any sleep at night? If you want to sacrifice your life for them I won’t stop you. That’s the one thing I’d do is remove any restriction on you as an individual fighting in someone else’s crap.
The axis powers were already organized populations accustomed to civil governance with institutions and infrastructure. And even with all that going for them they were essentially occupied countries the next 50 years.
Expecting a bunch of moon god death cult worshipers whose highest form of culture involves sheep and sun stroke to replicate this process in a decade or less is the height of arrogant idiocy.
Better to have gone in, whip them like the proverbial red headed stepchild and leave with the understanding that they rattle our cage again, we come back.
We didn’t nation build in Europe after WWII, we merely put the stool back up under them. Rome is still around, it didn’t succumb to Roman Catholicism so much as it eventually embraced it. Rome as a nation has outlasted the U.S. in years, and has (at a time before the internet and space travel) affected more of the globe. You still have south americans speaking Spanish that is inflected more with Latin than Spain’s original territorial and tribal languages. Much of it’s art, language, and architecture has survived because it was designed to. AND THE PAX ROMANA was definitely one of the ways in which it has done so. Further . . .
ROME OUTLASTED DETROIT.
“This country isn’t prepared to do what must be done.”
Like it or not they are a war with us. We don’t have the luxury of just walking away from the fight. If history is any indicator, this is going to be a long, long war.
General Patton er I mean General Mattis is what we need right now.
If Ike had had any stones he’d have slapped Patton down hard over his near constant sniping at Montgomery, who, as a Field Marshal was Patton’s senior throughout the war. I get that Patton was probably just what we needed but Ike kept too loose a hold on the leash.
If Ike had a pair, he would have shot Monty between the eyes with a 45 and been rid of the SOB. Easiest solution.
If Ike had any stones he would have told Monty to go fuck himself and let Patton win it in one year then kicked the Commies out of Germany
Sounds a little too eager to adventure, especially in what is supposed to be a new era of nonintervention. And to hear people’s tribal support for this guy? Makes me see the wisdom of the minimum seven years separation from the military law before being eligible for Sec. of Defense job. This guy only just retired in 2013.
It’s the neoconservative way. Deplete the treasury for the banks and the contractors, kill young poor stupid American kids, kill middle eastern christians, act tough, rinse and repeat!
Only after Democrats drain the military for social programs, screw up foreign policy and allow ideological murder on an industrial scale.
Stateisevilandyoulikeit
What Christians, maybe in Bosnia Herzegovina? Just another POS muslim lovefest
YUCK FOU
Joe R, you lost all credibility when you worshipped the flag yesterday. However, since you’re ignorant you can research what has happened to Chistians in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Kuwait, Egypt,Lybia, after American “liberation”.
“after liberation”???
You’re outa your damn mind. We didn’t liberate, we ended the rule of a dictator and a huge chunk of his minions AT THE BEHEST OF THE WORLD [you’re not smart enough but I’ve already posted a majority of the UN resolutions on TTAG]. Gulf War I is still “open” as prosecutable on our (U.S.) books [again, you’re not smart enough but I’ve already posted the legislative link here on TTAG]. POST Saddam, we (the U.S.) were attempting to consolidate the interested citizens of what remains, to rebuild their ‘country’ into a “country”.
AND WE WERE FU<KING GETTING IT DONE TOO.
Your friend, muslim-before-American EVIL muslim POS & (D) Obama put a stop to that, and further went about to destroy all secularly-ruled Arab and middle-eastern nations so as to help create a global caliphate (not the same as the ALSO POS UN and UN partner's globalization movement).
The Christians of Iraq, and other nations around the globe HAVE BEEN ABANDONED BY ALL, lately. BUT YOU DON'T REALLY GIVE A FLYING F ABOUT THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE A LIBERAL.
Stateisevilandyoulikeit
It doesn’t matter that you can type in English, it’s very evident that you are not from here, it’s stupid to spout off like you give a flying F about America except to bring it down.
There are many things in life and in this world that I have no doubt about, however I only have one belief.
I don’t “worship” anything but my GOD; HE WHO IS, Father of JESUS, and whose SPIRT is called “HOLY”. I uphold the U.S. flag as a symbol of America UNDER GOD, and demand that my fellow Americans, and the rest of the world, do so as well. But I treat it, too, as (one of) the purposes it was meant for, as a warning. Like the reverend Graham once said, [unknown absolute quote] ”I am merely the sign on the fence that says “TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT”, you can get mad at, and scream at, the sign, but that will not prevent you from being shot if you choose to jump the fence”.
We all have “LIMITS” (J.M. Thomas, R., TERMS, Pg. 166) Our Flag (many national flags) helps to define the U.S.’s limits, we protect our limits because bad actors with bad intentions attempt to encroach and do us harm so we set our limits out as far as necessary. When you exhibit the physical action of not supporting our flag, as the notion and symbol of our country we take whatever offense we do and prosecute that however we do as to protect our “limits”, we expect nothing less from / of you, and we grant and assume your similar authority over your limits and therefore rightly assume that violating our flag is a prerequisite for your greater intended harm of US. You may not believe that is the message that you are sending, but you don’t get to decide that, and [although proportionality is prudent] waiting for any additional exhibits from you before we jump to the end-state of all-out war on you (which would be your war answered, not our war warred-upon you). You want (to burn the flag and also to receive) the benefit of the doubt, and I merely want to cause you to never have to need any. Again, Yuck Fou.
The more eager you sound for adventure, the less eager your enemies will be to give you a try.
Eight years of a president who acted like a “Steppin Fetchit” pussy in the face of our enemies has certainly not made us or the countries that depend on us for security any safer.
Mattis’ quotes seem to eager for adventure because they come from a time in his life when he was leading Marines into combat. You don’t lead men into combat and not say some things that would seem controversial and blood thirsty in peacetime. That is one of the reasons he dismissed any notion of himself running for office. A more telling quote from Mattis, also known as the “Warrior Monk” would be “”You are part of the world’s most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon” and his insistence of his Marines to read and learn from history to avoid unnecessary bloodshed: “If in order to kill the enemy you have to kill an innocent, don’t take the shot. Don’t create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act.”
As for only being 3 years removed from the military? He was removed because he wouldn’t tow the party line, because he is one of the few generals who isn’t a politician. If we want change in Washington, he is one of the best choices to bring that change. His only downfall might be the fact that he isn’t a politician and might be to blunt.
““You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.”
“Engage your brain” – not a bad reminder for a group of jarheads.
Ya, he doesn’t even waste his breath with the ARMY.
; )
When I lived in Turkey we were told to always wear sunglasses, never look directly at a girl and never smile. looked like a herd of pimply secret Service dudes.
here you are, 19 years old, surrounded by stunning young lasses with fine arrow – uh, footwear. yeah, footwear… and you can’t look, because their male relatives can kill you if look and look interested.
we were in Sinop, a very touristy cosmopolitan city by Turkish standards. met a guy stationed in Erzerum. Stared straight ahead, no expression on his face. imagine how long it takes to move beyond a year of that.
Wow, that sounds great! Was always planning on visiting Turkey, maybe I’ll move my vacation up a few months to get there even sooner. Might even book a couple extra days and head down to Riyadh.
In late ’90, Riyadh was just that much fun, too.
Womens rights advocates must love this leftist progressive dude. He’s all for killing a man for slapping a woman.
Tell me again why they prefer hillary to Trump?
“Tell me again why they prefer hillary to Trump?”
Because Hillary is Hellary on purpose. Trump more often than not just ends up being that way, because he doesn’t know any better.
This election was always between the Devil You Do Know, and the What-The-Heck that doesn’t even know himself. With the latter chances are, at least some things will turn out good.
Until American high schoolers can schlep around Stingers and roll to school with belt fed .50s on the back of their pickups, and as long as Afghan tax rates are lower than “ours,” and “we” have Obamacare while Afghanistan does not; those supposedly manhood free Mullahs would still have been preferable to either of the candidates we had to choose from, though….
Pretty sure he’s all for killing those men for a lot of reasons, one of which is treating ALL women like little more than breeding cattle as a matter of course and culture.
I guess my sarcasm/sense of humor missed.
Could be! Didn’t sound funny to me.
My favorite.
“When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she’s dating a pussy”
That’s one of them internet quotes. Like Lincoln said, “you can’t trust every quote you see on the internet.”
It was supposedly said by generals before Mattis but is now floating around him because he’s got so many other quotes.
Nuke em all let God sort it out!
Sounds just soooooo good!
Sea of GLASS fella’s. Sea of Glass…build your own crappy Moose-lim paradise. I’m only interested in saving Christians being slaughtered. If I wasn’t old and beat up I’d fight in Iraq/Syria. BTW I’m at a Mistletoe Market in Chesterton,Indiana and a gal has bolt-action “rifle pens” made with dear antler and bullets-for the hunter who has everything. I’ll try to post a pic and info but my skills are scant…
Some of his best qoutes.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-best-from-mad-dog-mattis/
I can rephrase that: “Murder is a lot of fun, just make sure you give yourself an excuse first.”
That is a quote from him about to lead Marines into Afghanistan. It ends with him telling his Marines he will be right beside them. What would you prefer to hear when about to cross the line of departure?
You can also contrast that to this quote of his and see he was not bloodthirsty, he was there to get the task done.
“If in order to kill the enemy you have to kill an innocent, don’t take the shot. Don’t create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act.”
I can rephrase Peter. “No, No lube, thank you anyway, I am bent over and ready to take it”.
What a broke di<K (almost too wet to be a) heap o' sh_t.
If you {more people) adopt a posture of "I can't wait to F you up if you f with me" that's infinitely safer than anyone saying, I can't think of a reason why I would ever respond with violence because it's heinous.
WEAKNESS IS PROVACATIVE, DON'T PROVOKE YOUR ENEMY.
AND
STOP TOUCHING YOURSELF.
I don’t see that at all. What I see is, “these guys hurt a lot of innocent people feels good to make them suffer in turn, and to ensure that they will not hurt anyone else again”.
I hear that Mad Dog Mattis (like Chuck Norris) won a staring contest with the Sun, and has counted to infinity twice.
: )
HOORAH !!!
Arabs slap their women around? Who do they think they are — cops or something?
We are heading into an era when REAL “heroes” are revered and honored as they should be, Chris Kyle, the brave defenders at Benghazi will join John Basilone, Father Capadono, and Audie Murphy as true representatives of the best of our nation.
btw: I expect President Donald J. Trump to pardon the politically persecuted, currently incarcerated, private contractors from Blackwater that eradicated the dastardly male, female and child Moslems that brutally ambushed and murdered their coworkers in Iraq.
Isn’t this guy rather ‘iffy’ when it comes to us soft, flabby civilians having the same guns as his Marines? Hopefully I’m mistaken on Mattis, but that trait in military leadership is precisely why this secretarial position is set up to be civilian oversight. Military hierarchies that get too close to the top tend to violently overthrow the competition. Usually led by charismatic officers at odds with the civilian leadership, and followed by a shameless cult of personality in the military. Like Mattis. Hopefully Trump’s own egomaniacal tendencies will keep the Mad Dog on a short leash, and keep his efforts devoted externally.
Not anywhere within his purview, who cares?
Based on his quotes that I’ve seen, Mattis is going to be the sanest and least hypocritical figure in Trump’s administration, by a very large margin. A general that told his troops to think before they shoot is a good general in my book.
Now, yes, there are good reasons to avoid career military officers as SecDef… normally. But, this is not a normal presidency. It appears that Mattis’ service and track record are making Trump actually listen to him (just based on how fast he flip-flopped on torture after talking about it with Mattis, and how he described that conversation). That’s a good thing.
Most of these comments are spot on. (Those others, you know who you are.)
However, IMO, the best thing The POTUS could do, other than nominating an actual soldier to the position, is immediately return the original name of the job – Secretary of War. As in “The best defense is a good offense.”
In this world there are two things that are infinite, the Universe and the stupidity of American Generals and I am no so sure about the Universe.
Mad Dog for Sec Def! Out fuckin standing!
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