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‘A decade of war is now ending,” President Obama declared in his inaugural address a few weeks ago. That was an odd statement, considering that we have entered a second decade of war. In the same speech, the president referred to having won “peace in our time.” Neville Chamberlin said something similar. Wars are not ended by historically tone-deaf rhetorical flourishes.Two weeks ago in Algeria, Islamist terrorists conducted their bloodiest raid in years. The attack came only a few months after President Obama proclaimed that al-Qaeda had been “decimated.” The Algerian government launched an immediate counterattack, refusing to consult...

[Video only] Watch the full version of the 4th Annual “Salute to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans”, featuring General James N. Mattis, USMC (Ret.) at the Marines’ Memorial Club on April 16, 2015. The program included a Social Reception that followed General Mattis’ remarks.

Judging from her e-mails, Jill Kelley was star-struck by the big-name military commanders rotating between the war zones in the Middle East and her home town of Tampa. And they were equally smitten with her. (snip) Although Kelley was never accused of wrongdoing, her name and her unusual niche in the national-security establishment were quickly publicized by the news media. In 2013, she sued the FBI and the Defense Department, asserting that her privacy rights had been violated by officials who leaked her name and personal information to reporters. The federal government has sought to dismiss the case, but a...

Slamming settlements, James Mattis, former commander of CentCom, tells crowd in Aspen that moderate Arabs are forced to hide support for America. Retired US Marine Corps General James Mattis recently said that America pays a price for its perceived bias in support of Israel. “I paid a military security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel, and that moderates all the moderate Arabs who want to be with us, because they can’t come out publicly in support of people who don’t show respect for the Arab Palestinians,” he...

It was Lincoln who said "Give me a general who will fight!" That was after the North was defeated over and over again by Robert E. Lee's smaller and more agile armies. Lincoln's first generals fought desperately hard, but not hard enough to win. In the upshot, the Civil War dragged out to became our bloodiest war ever, 600,000 dead -- mostly white folks. And yes, it was triggered by Christian Abolitionists who made slavery morally intolerable to half the nation. Lincoln was therefore forced to find generals who would fight, and he found Sherman and Grant, who wreaked terrible...

Lost in the inaugural hullabaloo was Tuesday’s news that President Obama has relieved Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis, the colorful and highly decorated Marine who’s been in charge of the crucial US Central Command, which oversees the various wars in the Middle East, since 2010. (excerpt)

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call Daniel Halper January 25, 2013 10:26 AM President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced. "I am told that General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him -- he hadn't received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House," Thomas E....

Both the left and the right are wrong about Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis. He is neither the Jack Nicholson caricature of a Marine depicted in the 1992 movie A Few Good Men nor the callous and mad eccentric depicted by George C. Scott in the 1970 movie Patton. And Gen. Mattis didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk. He led from the front. Indeed, on at least one occasion that I know of, the General was bloodied from a firefight or improvised explosive device while out on patrol with junior, enlisted Marines one-third his age....

Reports indicate that Marine General James Mattis is being forced out of CENTCOM for questioning certain aspects of the Obama administration's Middle East policy. In particular, it appears his questions surrounding the U.S. response to Iran's nuclear ambitions drew the ire of civilian military and security advisers. These civilians were apparently upset by the way Mattis pushed them to "consider second and third-order consequences of military action against Iran." Nor did they appreciate the way he pushed them to think long term and consider what the U.S. will do if Iran develops non-nuclear weapons that can be used to keep...

“Word on the national security street is that General James Mattis is being given the bum’s rush out of his job as commander of Central Command, and is being told to vacate his office several months earlier than planned,” reports veteran national security correspondent Thomas E. Ricks. It now appears likely that Gen. Mattis, a Marine Corps legend, will leave his post as head of America’s most important combatant command in March, several months earlier than planned. Ricks continues: Why the hurry? Pentagon insiders say that he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way — not because he went all “mad...

Mad Dog Mattis. The Warrior Monk. Married to the Marine Corps. It’s all hype that embarrasses Gen. James Mattis, the chief of U.S. Central Command, who is preparing to retire this spring after one of the most productive four-decade sprints in uniform of his generation. To Marines, Mattis is Chaos, his call sign and nom de guerre. According to interviews with more than a half-dozen officers who know him well, Mattis is an iconoclast and innovator who strove to outmaneuver the enemy on the battlefield, paralysis in Washington and the “yes, sir!” culture of the military. Others, particularly civilians, consider...

Exclusive: CentCom commander’s call for third Persian Gulf carrier group was rejected, reports Eli Lake. * As Western diplomats meet this week in Baghdad to try to coax Iran’s leaders to disclose its full nuclear program, Gen. James Mattis will be keeping an eye on the Persian military. Mattis wanted to send a third aircraft-carrier group to the Persian Gulf earlier this year, The Daily Beast has exclusively learned, in what would have been a massive show of force at a time when Iranian military commanders were publicly threatening to sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The four-star...

Press Release Source: Council on American-Islamic Relations Muslims Call For Pentagon Action Over General's Remarks Thursday February 3, 3:30 pm ET Commander of Marine Division in Iraq Says Shooting People is 'Fun' WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Pentagon to discipline a top general who earlier this week said it is "fun to shoot some people." At a public event in San Diego, Calif., Lt. Gen. James Mattis said: "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot ... You go into Afghanistan, you...

TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 11, 2010 – Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis brings a wealth of experience in the Middle East to his new assignment as the commander of U.S. Central Command here, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Gates presided at Mattis’ assumption of command in front of military and diplomatic officials from many of the counties in the Middle East and Central Asia. Mattis assumed command from Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Allen, who has been acting commander since Army Gen. David H. Petraeus left the command to lead NATO operations in Afghanistan. Gates called Mattis...

The pundits, chattering classes and Beltway elite are all worried about Afghanistan. They think the war’s a hopeless cause, a “quagmire,” and, most damning of all in their minds, “Vietnam all over again.” But the new commanding general of U.S. Central Command, General James N. Mattis, says these worrywarts are all wrong about Afghanistan. Of course, the fretting of the chattering class is nothing new. It’s even typical and old-hat. The nattering nabobs of negativism, as the late great William Safire once dubbed them, are always worried that a war or a conflict will become too much for the American...

The Pentagon says it’s not censoring anyone and technically this may be true. But a policy of defacto censorship seems to have descended upon the U.S. military. The appointment of Marine Corps General James N. Mattis to head up Central Command (CENTCOM) is, of course, very good news. Mattis, after all, may well be America’s greatest living general. He certainly is one of the most intellectually formidable advocates of counterinsurgency warfare. However, Mattis’ appointment –- or, to be more precise, the reaction to his appointment amongst reporters and by the Pentagon leadership — raises troubling doubts about whether the American...

General Mattis Moves to CENTCOMAnother soldier-scholar enters the fray.  The president has nominated Marine Gen. James Mattis to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, replacing Gen. David Petraeus, who has assumed command of the effort in Afghanistan. This is a welcome move. There is now a remarkable military tandem in place in the Greater Middle East, one that Victor Davis Hanson has compared to Grant and Sherman. It is no secret that my admiration for General Mattis is unbounded. I have expressed it on several occasions on National Review Online and the website of the Ashbrook Center. I...

President Obama's pick to lead military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Middle East is an experienced ground combat commander, but also earned a stern rebuke in 2005 for controversial comments about combat operations. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, then a lieutenant general, told a crowd in San Diego that it was "fun to shoot some people" and said that some Afghans deserved to die. "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years, because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So...

Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis has been picked to take over U.S. Central Command, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. Mattis would replace Gen. David Petraeus, who is now in Afghanistan as the U.S. and NATO's top military officer there. The shake-up comes as the American public questions whether the fight in Afghanistan can be won, and the Defense Department is reeling from losing its top war commander -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today recommended Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has recommended to President Barack Obama that he nominate Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, to succeed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as commander of U.S. Central Command. DoD photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. If confirmed by the Senate, Mattis will succeed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Mattis currently is commander...