Did the man actually say these things as reported?
I will tend to assume that anything that dribbles from the diseased maw of either the AP or Reuters to be either invented out of thin air, completely misconstrued or purposely twisted out of context.
If either of those organizations published an article that had a statement within it that ensured us all that the sun was sure to rise tomorrow, I’d run out and buy up every flash light and battery I could afford because they can be counted on for only two things:
1. To lie.
2. To be wrong.
So, maybe he said this thing and maybe it is reported in context, if so, only on accident and I’ll not believe a word of it until the entire transcript is made available.
Well, you have a point about the reporting. What’s also interesting, is the AP reporter supposedly also has Charles Gittin’s, Capt. Stone’s civilian attorney, written response to the IO. So the leak appears to be the whole package that Lt. Gen. Mattis will receive.