Mad Dog Mattis' representative line of American Macho — may explain why the US has not strategically won a major war during his lifetime

30 May 2017

Secretary of Defense James Mattis is known for his Tough Guy renditions

On the joy of killing

It’s fun to shoot some people.

On sleeping without worries

The battle-hardened, tough-talking retired Marine Corps general was asked during CBS's Face the Nation what keeps him awake at night.

But Mattis, who was entrusted with some of the most challenging commands in the military, simply replied:

'Nothing.

'I keep other people awake at night.'

© 2017 By Liam Quinn, Ariel Zilber and Associated Press, 'I keep other people awake at night': Battle-hardened Defense Secretary Mattis says NOTHING stops him from enjoying a good night's sleep as he warns war with North Korea would be 'catastrophic', [Daily] MailOnline (28 May 2017)

On failure

I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word,” he once said.

Illustrating those deep philosophical ponderings

Mattis may not to have learned much from the last 70 years. Those have pretty definitively demonstrated that his apparently favored annihilation strategy does not work over the long strategic haul:

Mattis was also asked about the American strategy in defeating ISIS.

The Pentagon chief replied that the US was now interested in employing 'annihilation tactics.'

'The bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot,' Mattis said.

'We have already shifted from attrition tactics where we shove them from one position to another in Iraq and Syria, to annihilation tactics where we surround them.'

So, let's see

The United States has not strategically won a major war since World War II.

Former General Mattis had clout during a noticeable amount of that time.

And today, Mattis is Secretary of Defense under a demonstrably ignorant, carelessly impulsive and challengingly narcissistic Commander in Chief — whom any sensible official of high rank would have to struggle to serve effectively.

The moral? — Perhaps a little less tough guy bullshit and a little more demonstrated brain would do us all strategically better

I understand why Secretary Mattis talks as he does. USMC and all that.

But at his age, in his elevated rank, and under his circumstances — it would be a good idea to recognize that he is not a young, trash-talking Marine any more.

Perhaps contemplating the possibility of failure would be a complacence-destroying motivator.

And maybe lying awake at night thinking about ways to redirect decades of America's air-headed strategies would be advisable.

Deescalated scrotal hubris, in other words.

PeteFree.com

Mad Dog Mattis' representative line of American Macho — may explain why the US has not strategically won a major war during his lifetime