Is there objective evidence to support this? Aside from Mattis?
Just because he has two “allergic shiners” which are really alchohol bags under his eyes everyone thought he was a serious guy.
I am neither a Marine nor served in Iraq, but I read an excellent book “No True Glory” about the battle for Fallujah. (I read the book many years ago, so this is all from memory)
The Marines were held up by a bunch of insurgents occupying a minaret in a mosque, and were firing weapons from behind the walled compound of the mosque.
They had apparently been stuck there and delayed for some time (knew they would be crucified if they fired on a mosque) when Mattis was driven up in a humvee and he jumped out and asked what was going on.
The Marines explained the situation, and without hesitation Mattis said (I have to paraphrase because I don’t remember exactly) “Get a tank up here. Put a round in that minaret. Call in some air support and put a few MK-82 into that courtyard.
They took out the minaret, and a few minutes later, a few bombs landed in the courtyard, with visible body parts and weapons flying high in the air while the Marines hooted and hollered like they were at a concert.
Point was, he didn’t care about the blowback, and was direct and to the point and the Marines loved it.
That was what I based my opinion of him on, so when Trump named him SecDef, I was for it.
Well, I was wrong, and realized it soon enough when Mattis said he was all for letting open homosexuals serve in the military, and was all on board with transsexuals serving and dragged his feet when Trump directed him to change that policy.
I was wrong, and I sure hated it, because I had high hopes.
I clearly recall this guy quitting and coming out critical about Trump leaving Syria...Hmmmm kinda funny that after we pulled out, took over the oil, sure has been quiet there.
All this uproar about leaving the Kurds, etc....never played out...
Yet, this guy Mattis was again wrong.
Let’s face it, Folks...people like Mattis have had us in war after war after war.