Posted on 07/15/2022 5:24:37 AM PDT by MtnClimber
How the Pentagon’s top-brass generals burned the careers of subordinates but then pivoted to lucrative careers all while losing the wars they were supposed to be winning.
My new book, A Few Bad Men, details the mendacity and mad dishonesty of retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis. The fact that it was written by a Marine once under his command, whom he betrayed for the sake of politics and getting to slap on another star, says volumes about this once-lionized figure.
It all goes back to an incident in Afghanistan in 2007, and the Court of Inquiry trial of innocent Marines that followed, which Mattis himself instigated.
Lt. Colonel Steve Morgan, USMC (retired) and jury member of the 2008 Marine Special Operations Command’s Court of Inquiry says in the foreword to A Few Bad Men, “This is a case of a perfect storm of toxic leadership.”
The most legendary Marine of all time, Lieutenant General John A. Lejeune, the 13th commandant of the Marine Corps, laid out clearly how to effectively nurture and lead Marines: “Make every effort by means of historical, educational, and patriotic addresses to cultivate in their hearts a deep abiding love of the Corps and Country” and “the key to combat effectiveness is unity and esprit that characterizes itself in complete irrevocable mutual trust.”
If only General Mattis had taken this to heart.
On February 3, 2005, when Lieutenant General Mattis was attending the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Associations forum in San Diego, he said: “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. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.”
He also likes hearing the sound of his own voice.
During this same time, Mattis partnered with General David Petraeus to develop the joint counterinsurgency doctrine of winning hearts and minds. Mattis hijacked the phrase from the Hippocratic oath for his Marines to follow, “First do no harm.” This sounded good to the media and politicians in Washington, but Marines are not physicians and Afghanistan was no sterile operating room. It was a hellscape in which Marines constantly faced threats and the possibility of betrayal from 360 degrees. Mattis’ Marine Hippocratic oath sent mixed signals for his Marines, who had it on his good authority that “It’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot . . . some people.”
Just over two years later, I led the First Marine Special Operations Task Force. We landed in Afghanistan on February 12, 2007. Before long the First was involved in a complex ambush near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, on March 4, 2007. We were attacked by a suicide car-bomb, waves of Taliban fighters on both sides of the road, a sniper, and a mob that placed an obstacle to trap us in an ambush kill box. We successfully counterattacked, killed the Taliban terrorists, avoided civilian casualties, and returned to base within 20 minutes, where we learned of the Taliban’s swift information operations campaign that was already underway, accusing us of mass-murdering Afghan civilians. The Taliban’s version of events went out within 20 minutes through the BBC followed by countless others. Ultimately, the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, condemned our actions and the Army generals kicked us out of Afghanistan within five days. Crushing the Taliban in battle morphed into a PR victory for the extremists in the media and a weakening of the allied forces in country. Due process went right out the window.
Ironically, Mattis was assigned as the convening authority by the commandant of the Marine Corps in August 2007, to be responsible for the investigation and a Court of Inquiry into our March 4 battle. Mattis received the results of my polygraph test and the sworn testimony of all the Marines involved in the firefight, confirming that on that morning no Marines said they killed any civilians or saw any civilians killed.
Unlike Lejeune’s comments of “cultivating a deep abiding love of Country and Corps in the hearts of your Marines and that the key to combat effectiveness is unity and esprit that characterizes itself in complete irrevocable mutual trust,” Mattis unleashed an unprecedented 45 criminal investigators and four prosecuting attorneys against the seven Marines falsely accused by the Taliban of mass murder. It would become the longest war crimes trial in Marine Corps history.
Mattis placed a “protective order” (a.k.a. gag order) prohibiting the two Marine officers who he named as codefendants from making any statements to the press or face punishment. Our attorneys would face disbarment. The already unlevel playing field was tilted hard against the Marines who had won a battlefield victory under fire.
Additionally, Mattis’ prosecution team found perceived vulnerabilities in the Marine commandos and commenced “ethnic targeting” of two Hispanic Marines. Mad Dog’s prosecutors continuously interrogated one of them, and the government manufactured a statement from him that our fire was out of control during the March 4 ambush.
The prosecution then threatened to deport the Marine’s mother back to Mexico unless he signed the statement. That Marine testified he was coerced into signing the prosecution’s false statement. Another Hispanic Marine also testified he was repeatedly threatened by the prosecution to take a polygraph, which was not a legal order, but the prosecution ordered him to anyway. None of the other Marines were subjected to these strongarm Gestapo tactics.
Mattis turned the prosecution over to his successor in the fall of 2007 as he received his promotion with a fourth star. The following year, the trial acquitted all of us. No thanks to Mad Dog Mattis. He got his star. A few bad prosecutors under his watch cost the Marines a few good men, and diminished America’s position in Afghanistan at a time when that war might still have been won.
Mattis went on to serve as the commander of all U.S. Forces in the Middle East at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida. As I detail in A Few Bad Men, there he came under the influence of Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos. Holmes had a device she claimed could detect all kinds of disease in a few drops of blood. It would change the world, if it worked. Holmes contacted Mattis in August 2012 and wrote Pentagon officials requesting, “How do we overcome this new obstacle? I have tried to get this device tested in theater asap, legally and ethically. This appears to be relatively straight-forward yet we’re a year into this and not yet deployed.”
The main problem Mattis was willing to overlook was that the FDA had not approved Theranos’ blood testing technology to be used on our troops in Afghanistan, but Mattis was hoping he could push it through, right or wrong.
Mattis retired and went on to make a fortune serving on four corporate boards, including Theranos and military contractor General Dynamics. Theranos’ technology would not only be denied FDA approval, but it was proven to be a fraud. During the Elizabeth Holmes trial, Mattis, who had served as a Theranos board member for several years, testified that he was unaware of any of Theranos’ scandalous actions. This seems unlikely, given Mad Dog’s legendary tenacity, and the fact that he had a fiduciary duty to know what was going on.
Holmes’ device never worked. She is now a convicted fraudster. Was Mattis her gullible mark or a greedy participant?
Mattis’ disgraceful actions are laid bare in A Few Bad Men. He used his position as secretary of defense to bottle up the Freedom of Information Act requests to get our testimony in that March 4, 2007 ambush exposed. Our shocking testimonies have now been released and tell a terrible story of betrayal by a Marine against other Marines. They reveal why the Pentagon’s top-brass generals who burned the careers of subordinates but then pivoted to lucrative careers with every defense contracting company lost their forever war in Afghanistan, and really, haven’t won a war in decades.
Yep.
LtCol Stuart Scheller was court martialled and forced out of the Marine Corps for being the only American military officer (that I'm aware of) to criticize the disastrous and treasonous debacle as American forces left Afghanistan and turned over massive amounts of weapons and equipment.
Scheller stated that he and his fellow Marine officers recognized that "the warrior monk" was a homosexual when Mattis spoke at a USMC military course that Scheller attended.
The fundamental problem is that our leaders - military, political (national, state, local), and our bureaucrats at all levels are nearly universally on the take.
Mattis was particularly egregious in his greed and disregard for America. The General from Theranos and Amazon certainly pledged his allegiance to those that paid him the most, for that (my opinion) he should have faced a firing squad, and probably still should.
The problem of our General Staff in the military is particularly difficult. They routinely participate in a “revolving door” where recently retired general officers bribe active duty general officers with promises of positions with defense contractors immediately upon retirement along with generous compensation.
Its bribery. They should also face a firing squad. If they care about money over our country that much, they should never have been in the military, but that’s the problem. They may have started out patriotic and idealistic, but the power and ego (that somehow most of our past generals were able to resist) has become irresistible to the participants in the new military culture.
That there is never punishment at the vaunted flag ranks for serious offenses is also part of the problem. There is no reason we could not grab Mattis by the collar, even today, and send him to Leavenworth for being a lying, thieving, corrupt SOB.
Thats how you cure the military culture. Hold the leaders accountable, just like our great generals though our history did - and held themselves to a high standard.
Once it’s clear the officer corps doesn’t universally “get away with it” then we can work on the lower ranks, and drastically improve our readiness and capability.
Mattis is a clear example of corruption, but he is by no means the only example. But he’d be a great guy to make an example of by holding him accountable for his greed and corruption and turning his back on America for money.
Of American institutions, the military is the easiest to save, but it needs to be saved now. There’s a lot of house cleaning that needs to occur, hence my comment about it’s more than a few bad men. Fortunately, there more good men than bad, many of which have been held back by the bad men.
It is important to note, that cleaning up the military is for nought if the State Department and intelligence agencies are not reformed. Our foreign policy is directly related to the military’s use. The entire State Department needs to be completely dismantled and reconstituted with America First employees. Many intelligence agencies should simply be shuttered. There are too many to be effective. What’s left standing needs to be reformed. If these things are not done, the military will continue to receive incorrect information and used for the wrong reasons.
Indeed, I had heard the same thing about him. Could be the root of his being compromised?
DOJ and the FBi are not the only deep state orgs that need a top down housecleaning
Having personally met and spoken with Mattis on three occasions—once before OIF became hot/heavy, and two other times in Iraq, I have to say that his demeanor and interaction with us was something we honestly believed in and thought of him as Patton 2.0. But something happened along the way (or I just missed it in the convoy) but the man who served as SecDef under President Trump was unrecognizable and Kelly unfortunately no better (and I don’t hear a word from either of them blazing Biden—but they were all over DJT after their departure). Re a second view, I wonder what Kelly felt (after losing a son in Afghanistan) when Biden/Austin/Milley oversaw the horrid withdrawal from that nation. Anyway, my Corps has been many things to me but I honestly do not recognize it as the moral and fighting force it was during the 24 years I served. Serious hope this is a blip on the screen, for if things stand as they are now being implemented (Pride Month—really!), the real Marine Corps will likely never be the same.
Blackmail from his involvement with Theranos!
“He was born in Canada and was a Canadian until 2015.”
Doesn’t matter if at least one of his parents was American.
Perhaps of interest.
I hope that with replacement of wokeists with true patriots that the entire US Military will be great again.
I’m a Marine...reading this is painful!!!
Soon we will be in a real war—with real industrialized foes. In that war we might LOSE! This new WW will be fought in our own land. We can see the horrors we have visited upon other nations and the world will gloat at our destruction. They were happy to see Brits dismantle their Empire, they will be pleased to see us gone—But they may not like who replaces us—Red China. They are not the USA. They may have buyers remorse
Just keep your head up and remember that all of this can be reversed. Hopefully the scoundrels can be put into the brig and a new industry can be developed for "revenge tourism" where people can pay a nominal fee to fling feces on them in their cells.
Absolutely...Nov. can not come soon enough for the Dems to pay the price.
Truth is, we all wanted another Al Gray, Lewis Puller, Smedley Butler, or John Lejeune. In the spring of 2005, there was a air of defeat. No one knew how to turn it around. We forgot our own doctrine for counterinsurgency, and adopted a policy of attrition and chasing inanimate objects (IEDs).
As I was working on a re-write of a Marine Corps doctrinal pub, I came across one remark that made me question his generalship:
"Doctrine is the last refuge of the unimaginative"
Yet here I was staring at a doctrinal issue that was wrong, held over from all of the preceding wars that the Marine Corps never dealt with, particularly in the information age. Then I went back into his career and saw nothing remarkable. All of the tactical decisions were common sense and unimaginative. He was a good tactician, but that is all. He was promoted beyond his capabilities. Peter Pace.....now HE was a general.
The DEMOCRATS Want the USA to be DESTROYED!
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.— Dwight D. EisenhowerFarewell radio and television address to the American people, 17 Jan. 1961
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