Former defense secretary James Mattis plans on dropping a book in July, and we couldn't be more excited.
According to the Associated Press, 'Call Sign Chaos: Learning To Lead' won't follow the traditional Trump-era tell-all formula. Instead, Mattis's tome will offer an "expansive account" of his lifetime of public service from the the beginning of the Global War on Terror to, yes, his time leading the Pentagon
"I'm old-fashioned: I don't write about sitting Presidents, so those looking for a tell-all will be disappointed," Mattis said in a statement to the Associated Press. "I want to pass on the lessons and experiences that prepared me for challenges I could not anticipate, not take up the hot political rhetoric of our day."
This capsule description sounds fitting for a Marine general so disciplined and methodical that he's known as a "warrior monk" of Washington. But I have one objection so far: the title sucks.
In what appear to be his first public remarks on U.S. national security since his resignation as Secretary of Defense, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis offered a word of caution to President Donald Trump amid escalating tensions with Iran on Tuesday.
"The United States should buy time to keep peace and stability and allow diplomats to work diplomacy on how to keep peace for one more hour, one more day, one more week, a month or a year," Mattis said during remarks in the United Arab Emirates.
"Iran's behavior must change," Mattis added, "[but] the military must work to buy time for diplomats to work their magic."
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis reportedly called President Donald Trump's former national security adviser an "unstable asshole" during a 2017 conference call following a North Korean missile test, the Washington Examiner reported on Friday.
President Donald Trump named then-Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor in February 2017. At the time, McMaster was viewed as a possible stabilizing force in the White House, coming after his predecessor retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn imploded after only 24 days on the job.
But an unnamed former White House official told the Examiner that McMaster favored attacking Iran and intervening in Syria, putting him at odds with Mattis.
Rep. Seth Moulton questions senior military leaders during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, March 7, 2017.
Iraq war veteran Rep. Seth Moulton is distinguishing himself from the other 20 Democrats running for president right now by arguing that he would make a better commander in chief than President Donald Trump.
"I think our motto as a country should be the same motto we had in the 1st Marine Division: No better friend, no worse enemy," Moulton (D-Mass.), a former Marine captain, told Task & Purpose. "That means standing with our allies and confronting our enemies, not cozying up to them."
"No matter how you look at it, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, they are enemies of the United States and we need to treat them that way," added Moulton, who is one of three veterans vying for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert L. Wilkie on Nov. 11, 2018. (DoD/Lisa Ferdinando)
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is reportedly pushing an "internal campaign" to be the next secretary of defense, the Washington Post reported.
President Donald J. Trump departs from the Pentagon alongside Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Jan. 27, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr)
In 2004, a staff writer at The Los Angeles Times named Tony Perry wrote that troops serving in Iraq under then-Maj. Gen. James Mattis were calling him "Mad Dog Mattis" behind his back.
Roughly 15 years later, in March 2019, Big Brother said that he gave Mattis a "new nickname," since Chaos was not good enough.
