NADIA BOROWSKI SCOTT / Union-Tribune Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler (left) shook hands yesterday with Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis after Mattis took over as commander of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton Posted on 08/15/2006 5:44:34 AM PDT by radar101
NADIA BOROWSKI SCOTT / Union-Tribune Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler (left) shook hands yesterday with Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis after Mattis took over as commander of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton
Quotable and iconic, controversial and laconic, Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis took command of 50,000 troops at Camp Pendleton yesterday as allegations of war crimes and mounting war casualties hang over the base. Mattis replaced Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, 57, as commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which has done most of the fighting in Iraq's volatile Anbar province this year.
“This (force) is a national treasure,” said Mattis, 55, who had overseen the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, Va., for the past two years. “I'm so happy I could cry. It is a privilege to return to your ranks.”
Sattler is moving to Washington, D.C., to become director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a prestigious position last held by the incoming commandant of the Marine Corps.
In his farewell speech, Sattler quoted English philosopher John Stuart Mill: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.”
When asked how much longer Marines – and their families – could continue the current rotation of seven months at home and seven months in combat, Sattler said, “I think we can sustain for however long for the duration.”
Since the Iraq War began in March 2003, at least 295 members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have died in combat, with many times that number wounded.
The war is the main, but not sole, challenge for Mattis. He will help to decide the merits of accusations against some two dozen Camp Pendleton service members suspected of unlawful assaults and killings.
Court hearings are scheduled to start next month for seven Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. The defendants are charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya, Iraq, in April.
Three of the Marines in that case and three others from the same battalion are facing separate assault charges.
Meanwhile, about a dozen Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment allegedly shot to death 24 civilians on Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq, following a roadside bomb attack that killed a lance corporal.
In all three cases, Mattis will decide whether the suspects should proceed to court-martial.
Marine officials made it clear before yesterday's ceremony that neither Sattler nor Mattis would talk about the cases. Mattis did not speak to reporters at all because, according to a Marine spokesman, he believed the focus should be on Sattler.
Mattis made his mark as a battlefield commander by becoming the first Marine to lead a naval task force against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. Two years later, he solidified a place in Marine Corps lore by leading the 1st Marine Division as it fought its way to Baghdad and then Tikrit, the birthplace of then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Widely known as a Marine's Marine, the blunt Mattis stirred controversy for what some considered bellicose statements he made in San Diego about the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During a panel discussion in February 2004, Mattis said: “Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.
“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.”
Top generals in the Corps rallied around Mattis, although they agreed that he should have used more tactful language.
People who know Mattis – who also coined the phrase “no better friend, no worse enemy” to define Marine intentions in Iraq – are unanimous in their praise for him.
“He's a first-class leader,” said Joe Hoar of Del Mar, a retired Marine general who led the Central Command and has known Mattis for 25 years. “He's probably the most knowledgeable person in the United States on counter-insurgency operations.”
Lt. Col. Colby C. Vokey, who oversees the legal defense teams for Marine bases west of the Mississippi, said Mattis is “highly respected, a very straightforward kind of leader. He is definitely a warrior, very direct, abrupt.”
Vokey added, “Commanding the 1st MEF is going to play to his strong suit because it is a combat command. The best job for him is a war-fighting job.”
War Crimes? (Jeeeeeeezzzzz, the San Diego Union couldnt do a better opeining couple of sand bag lines if it wanted to.)
Only in the minds of the lame stream media...to them, only the good guys commit war crimes...considering all the acts of the bad guys are "true" war crimes.
“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.”
I like this man!
Amen, brother, Amen!!
I just sent this to John Murtha, it could be a good thing if ALL FReepers did the same!!
1st Marine Expeditionary Force
BumP
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