Jim Mattis appreciation thread.

[melman]

18. Look

The Taliban are not nice guys. Obviously.

But he has no way of knowing who is beating who. It's just tough-guy talk.


and this guy is an extreme hawk on Iran. So much so that...




In fact, Mattis’ anti-Iran animus is so intense that it led President Barack Obama to replace him as Centcom commander. It was a move that roiled Mattis admirers, seeding claims that the president didn’t like “independent-minded generals who speak candidly to their civilian leaders.” But Mattis’ Iran antagonism also concerns many of the Pentagon’s most senior officers, who disagree with his assessment and openly worry whether his Iran views are based on a sober analysis or whether he’s simply reflecting a 30-plus-year-old hatred of the Islamic Republic that is unique to his service. It’s a situation that could lead to disagreement within the Pentagon over the next four years—but also, senior Pentagon officials fear, to war.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/james-mattis-iran-secretary-of-defense-214500


There's a tendency to make everyone who goes even slightly against Trump into a hero.

But just because Trump is bad doesn't automatically make this guy great. They can both be bad.