'Hold fast': Mattis bids farewell to Pentagon

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis bade farewell to the Pentagon on Monday, telling the US military to "hold fast" after he quit over a series of fundamental differences with President Donald Trump.

Mattis resigned December 20, after Trump stunned the US establishment by ordering a full troop withdrawal from Syria.

"Our department is proven to be at its best when the times are most difficult," Mattis said in a brief memo to the Pentagon, an apparent reference to the turmoil in Washington.

"So keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes."

Mattis, a scholar who frequently backs his views with historical anecdotes, also quoted a telegram President Abraham Lincoln sent to General Ulysses Grant in February 1865, near the end of the American Civil War.

"Let nothing which is transpiring, change, hinder, or delay your military movements, or plans," the former Marine Corps general quoted Lincoln as saying.

He added that he was confident military members are "undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution while protecting our way of life."

- 'Difficult circumstances' -

Mattis was followed in his resignation by Brett McGurk, the US special representative to the coalition fighting the Islamic State movement, which Trump declared to be defeated.

Just days before Trump announced the Syria withdrawal on Twitter, McGurk addressed a news conference in which he assured that the United States would not "just pick up and leave" Syria, warning of the risks that the Islamic State would return.

On his last day in office Monday, McGurk, a Middle East troubleshooter under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, struck a similar tone to Mattis.

"I wish my former civilian and military colleagues well as they work under extremely difficult circumstances to protect the interests of our great country," McGurk tweeted.

Mattis had initially been due to leave the Pentagon at the end of February, but Trump brought the date forward by two months.

Trump was reportedly angered by news coverage of Mattis's stinging resignation letter, which laid bare his fundamental disagreements with the president.

In that letter, the 68-year-old Pentagon chief said his political outlook, which cherishes traditional alliances, could no longer be reconciled with that of the president, who has poured scorn on longstanding partnerships and repeatedly sought closer ties with Russia.

As of January 1, Patrick Shanahan will be acting defense secretary, moving up from his position of deputy.

On Monday, Trump appeared to soften his stance on Syria, saying troops would be sent home "slowly" while still fighting the Islamic State group.


Related Links
 Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com


Thanks for being here;
 We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.</span>
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once credit card or paypal
 SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly paypal only


SUPERPOWERS
India's longest road-rail bridge bolsters defence on China border
 Bogibeel, India (AFP) Dec 25, 2018
 India on Tuesday opened its longest rail-road bridge in a poor northeastern state as part of efforts to boost defences on its sensitive border with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi drove an inaugural cavalcade along the 4.9 kilometre (three mile) long Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra river to inaugurate the project in Assam state which has taken nearly two decades and $800 million to complete. The bridge, near the city of Dibrugarh, will enable the military to speed up the dispatch of for ... read more

Let's block ads! (Why?)



from Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense http://bit.ly/2F2QJUS
via space News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oryx Handbook of Iranian Drones

Image
The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue Iran's past and current inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their armament. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, this list only includes military drones associated with Iran's defence industry or military-grade UAVs with at least some chance of entering service. Notes:  - If several configurations of a drone with one designation are known, they are added as such.  - The part within the apostrophes refers to other designations or an unofficial designation. -  UAVs that did not enter service or have yet to enter service have been placed in the prototype category. - When a type is dual-capable, it is added in both respective categories. - Dubious claims are referred to as ''claimed to be capable''. - Although several types of Iranian UAVs have been sighted in Syria and Iraq, the foreign service section of this handbook only includes those confirmed to be in s
Read more

This Equation Shows You Can't Quantify Everything

Image
Yeah, I used a clickbaity headline. So sue me. Recently I went on an extensive rant about the fundamental assumptions of science. One of them, I said, was that things have to be measurable. And that's basically true, I think... but there are interesting subtleties. You might well be familiar with the weirdness of the quantum realms, as in the double-slit experiment where "particles" can apparently be in two places at once. What you might be less aware of is that much, much larger things can be just as hard to measure. You really don't need carefully controlled laboratory conditions to see how bizarre reality can get. Measuring some things is hard... In astronomy, if you're hunting for galaxies in a new data set, you have to try and estimate these things called completeness and reliability . They're quite simple concepts but they have very strict meanings - thankfully, for once, quite intuitive ones. Consider a naturalist trying to identify some meerk
Read more

Andrew Wyeth: Home Places

Image
  THE BRANDYWINE   FEBRUARY 4–JULY 13, 2023 Andrew Wyeth, Swifts – First Version, 1991, watercolor on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3122r © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)  Opening at the Brandywine Museum of Art on February 4, 2023,  Andrew Wyeth: Home Places  presents nearly 50 paintings and drawings of local buildings that inspired Wyeth time and again over seven decades of his career. The artworks in this exhibition are drawn exclusively from the nearly 7,000-object Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, now managed by the Brandywine. Many of these pieces have never before been exhibited, offering a first glimpse at a significant treasure trove that will shed new light on the collaborative creative process of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. Andrew Wyeth, Widow’s Walk Study, 1990, watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3144 © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Socie
Read more