My answer to How aggressive will Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis be if confirmed as Secretary of Defense?

Answer by Abbey Laurel-Smith:

Anyone who mixes foreign policy with national security issues like this General Mattis is obviously not the right man for the job. He is even far from being the best man for the job, if one has to go by some of his conflicting statements.

He might have been a good soldier and a Pentagon leadership teaser in his manner, but when it comes to demeanor and conduct at war – like always wanting to get the job done at all costs and at the expense of your soldiers, I, personally will never want him anywhere near that office.

Also, what the U.S. military need now is a “NEW CHAPTER”, a NEW FOCUS and a totally TAILORED FOCUS like we’ve never seen before. Not a dalliance with old fallacy. No! One cubit of organic flexibility is missing in his judgement as an overseer and as a planner.

For example, last time this General was tapped, he came up with COIN, and had no back-up as to how best to match man, technology and what was traditionally expected of soldiers. That lack of back-up or inability to push the COIN doctrine, like an Army Ranger of the same rank would have done is today degrading our military capability.

So, if we have to go by his record and performances, I’ll say no matter how aggressive he is with the job – if appointed, he will be spending his aggression on the wrong things.

Being a good student of history, classics and quoting the Romans is one thing, but knowing how to actualize their methods, and not jut apply them bam-bam is another. To apply them bam-bam is to treat history as a study of events.

This time of ours demand we treat history as an established process to ascertain knowledge.

How aggressive will Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis be if confirmed as Secretary of Defense?