Gen. Mattis: The Media Gets it Wrong Again

You've heard the quote from James N. Mattis; Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, dozens of time by now:

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for 5 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."

Displaying its usual knee-jerk antipathy towards the American military, the press seized on Mattis' comments, delivered in the middle of a panel discussion in San Diego last week.

The message was clear. The Iraq war hero is, in reality, a brute. A psychopath. A cold blooded killer whose attitude offered a window into the thinking that lurked behind the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

Amazing. How do elite liberal journalists, who would never dream of joining the military themselves, think a commander prepares his men to engage the enemy? Obviously, these reporters have never been in a football locker room at half-time.

A commander needs to help his men believe that they are risking their lives for a great nation which believes great things; that they fight an enemy who would destroy our way of life and our people. How does one do that without appealing to base emotions?

There are other quotes from the top Marine commander that reporters could have noted, words that show that he's anything but the Neanderthal killer they advertised in press accounts.

Here's the advice Gen. Mattis offered his troops on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom before leading them into battle:

"Our fight is not with the Iraqi people, nor is it with members of the Iraqi army who choose to surrender. While we will move swiftly and aggressively against those who resist, we will treat all others with decency, demonstrating chivalry and soldierly compassion for people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam's oppression . . .

"Use good judgment and act in the best interests of our Nation. You are part of the world's most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon. Share your courage with each other as we enter the uncertain terrain north of the Line of Departure. Keep faith in your comrades on your left and right and Marine Air overhead. Fight with a happy heart and strong spirit . . . .

"If [Iraqi soldiers] choose to fight they are going to regret it, but we also believe that part of the physicians’ oath that says first do no harm. If, to kill a terrorist, we have got to kill eight innocent people, you don’t kill them."

The words of an out-of-control psycho killer? Hardly. That's why the press didn't want you to hear them.

The anti-military media would rather portray Gen. Mattis as a Ghengis Khan, Jr., executing the policies of a reckless cowboy President who's leading the nation to disaster.

Oddly enough, some of the same pundits calling for Mattis to step down are defending Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor who described 9/11 victims as "little Eichmann’s” who deserved what they got.

Sorry, this priest has buried too many victims and consoled too many families to buy that. I’d rather have Gen. Mattis shooting the perpetrators of 9/11 than have Ward Churchill defending them [at public expense] any day of the week.

Obviously, these reporters have never been in a football locker room at half-time.

Nope. Most reporters were that dorky kid that was getting destroyed by the football players every day in the hallways and was being made fun of constantly by everyone else. This is why the writings of these jerkoffs are so off the wall. They have the protection of being in the press so they can say anything and generally get away with it, that is until FR and the weblogs came along.

I predict that here in just the next year or so that the MSM will have a collasal meltdown akin to a whiny 3 yr old saying "They won't play with me!!!" It has already started to happen on a smaller scale, but I think it will happen on a much much bigger scale here very very soon.

The guy is my hero and his critics aren't fit to tie his boot laces.

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force returns to Iraq, March 2003
Remarks by MajGen J. N. Mattis

"We are going back in to the brawl. We will be relieving the magnificent
Soldiers fighting under the 82nd Airborne Division, whose hard won
successes in the Sunni Triangle have opened opportunities for us to
exploit.

For the last year, the 82nd Airborne has been operating against the
heart of the enemy's resistance. It's appropriate that we relieve them:
When it's time to move a piano, Marines don't pick up the piano
bench...we move the piano.

So this is the right place for Marines in this fight, where we can carry
on the legacy of Chesty Puller in the Banana wars in the same sort of
complex environment that he knew in his early years. Shoulder to
shoulder with our comrades in the Army, Coalition Forces and maturing
Iraqi Security Forces, we are going to destroy the enemy with precise
firepower while diminishing the conditions that create Adversarial
relationships between us and the Iraqi people.

This is going to be hard, dangerous work. It is going to require
patient, persistent presence. Using our individual Initiative, courage,
moral judgment and battle skills, we will build on the 82nd Airborne's
victories.

Our country is counting on us even as our enemies watch and calculate,
hoping that America does not have warriors strong enough to withstand
discomfort and danger.

You, my fine young men, are going to prove the enemy wrong - dead wrong.

You will demonstrate the same uncompromising spirit that has always
caused the enemy to fear America's Marines.

The enemy will try to manipulate you into hating all Iraqis. Do not
allow the enemy that victory. With strong discipline, solid faith,
unwavering alertness, and undiminished chivalry to the innocent, we will
carry out this mission.

Remember, I have added, 'First, do no harm' to our passwords of:

‘No Better Friend...'

‘No Worse Enemy...‘

Keep your honor clean as we gain information about the enemy from the
Iraqi people.

Then, armed with that information and working in conjunction with
fledgling SECURITY Forces, we will move precisely against the enemy
elements and crush them without harming the innocent.

This is our test - our Guadalcanal - Our Chosin Reservoir - our Hue
City. Fight with a happy heart and keep faith in your comrades and your
unit.

We must be under no illusions about the nature of the enemy and the
dangers that lie ahead. Stay alert, take it all in stride, remain
sturdy, and share your courage with each other and the world.

You are going to write history, my FINE young Sailors and Marines, so
write it well."

Semper Fidelis,

J. N. Mattis
Major General, U. S. Marines

Mattis talks pretty straight. I have been reading Military History since I was 13. In all the biographies, journals, speeches, accounts, letters, bulletins, reports I have ever read of commanders addressing troops, it's the same. Clear, concise, direct and focused direction and inspiration. Yes, inspiration. Taken out of their relative context, you could not distinguish one nationality, political position or engagement from another. All leaders, ALL LEADERS, speak the same language. 'Succeed and don't die!' Whoever is speaking...Patton, Napoleon, Grant, the Great Khan, Attila, Caesar...it's always the same speech. I almost think that the best speakers were also the best leaders... or maybe the speeches of lesser commanders did not survive them.

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