Trump’s Choice for Defense Secretary: Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis

December 5, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as his Secretary of Defense.  He’s the latest addition to Trump’s storm trooper team.  Mattis’ mantra: "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

Mattis' got his nickname “Mad Dog” for his role in leading U.S. troops in laying waste to the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004, massacring insurgents and civilians alike.  Most of that modern city of 300,000 was completely destroyed, reduced to rubble. At least 60 percent of those killed were women, children, and the elderly. A correspondent wrote: "There has been nothing like the attack on Fallujah since the Nazi invasion and occupation of much of the European continent—the shelling and bombing of Warsaw in September 1939, the terror bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940."

The U.S. terrorist attack in Fallujah that Mattis led included use of white phosphorus, the chemical fired by Marine artillery battery units. Use of white phosphorus violates international law and is a war crime. Often compared with the devastating effects of napalm, used extensively by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, white phosphorus can burn right through skin to the bone. A U.S. Army specialist involved in the Fallujah attack reported: "I saw the burned bodies of women and children…. Whoever is within a 150-meter radius has no hope."

When the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mattis, then leader of a Marine division as a major general, used the call name "Chaos" to reflect the utter havoc and destruction he set out to wreak on the march to Baghdad. He once told Iraqi leaders: "If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all."

During the campaign, Trump promised escalate the war against Islamic fundamentalism with a no-holds barred, ruthless approach.  In last month's interview with the New York Times, Trump said “I think it’s time maybe, it’s time for a general. Look at what’s going on. We don’t win, we can’t beat anybody, we don’t win anymore. At anything.”

“President Trump is also likely to double down on the use of conventional military force.” Andrew Bacevich, author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East, wrote before Mattis’ selection.  “In that regard, his promise to ‘quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS’ offers a hint of what is to come. His appointment of the uber-hawkish Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as his national security adviser and his rumored selection of retired Marine Corps General James (“Mad Dog”) Mattis as defense secretary suggest that he means what he says.”

All this promises great horrors for humanity. It must be stopped.

 

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