President Trump Cans DEFSEC Immediately

Military men are by nature establishment men or they dont make it beyond butter bar.
An inevitable clash with Trump. Although I agree it could have been handled with a little more finesse.

Trumps strong suit - anti-establishment. He was cordial at first to Mattis, but true to Trump's nature- he couldn't resist a jab or two on Mattis way out..

No big problem for a tough marine.

However Trump is quickly spending his currency.

 

Perhaps true but could Mattis have resigned in maybe a more respectful manner too. His letter was good but he added in about "treating allies with respect" insinuating Trump wasn't. Did that really have to be in his letter?

 

Yes, it was one of my questions. If it had to be there, it should have at least said something like, "even if they don't treat us with respect."

 

Also, Trump did not want the suicidal transgenders in the military because it is so expensive to cope with their medical demands.

 

Talk about being "disrespectful", ...Mattis doesn't seem to get that Trump ran on and won on issues such as the U.S.A. not being the police force of the world and spending our money and young lives to do so... AND then Trump puts his word to the people in practice and MATTIS retaliates and calls out his Commander in Chief by making a scene right after Trump makes the decision. Mattis knew the heat Trump would be taking and he purposely flamed the fire while disrespecting that he (Mattis) doesn't make the final call! I am very disappointed in Mattis' behavior and if I were in charge Mattis wouldn't even be in the picture up to New Years, he would have got the typical corporate termination treatment of being immediately escorted off of the premises upon his blatant retaliatory resignation letter!

 

Yea.....

 

Well we have a saying.....see if you could understand an get the hint.....sitfu

 

Well does he?

 

All I can say on this one is that I hope Trump knows what he is doing by removing our troops out of Syria. I think this was one of the reasons Mattis resigned. I just hope that Trump is right on the removal of our troops as I don't think things are that stable there. And why is Russia so for it? What is Putin's agenda about Syria? Scary times we are in. May Jesus come soon. I have those times as I sit and read my Bible that something is about to happen but can't put a finger on it. But I can feel the Lord's presence in the mix, so I don't worry about it as God is in control.

 

The interest of most, and most of the interest, in the Middle East is gas & oil, including pipelines.

 

We only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to intel and whats actually happened.

e.g. Putin was like the grayback gorilla today beating his chest and hooting about supermissles which can destroy the entire earth in a few minutes.

Truth: He is scared of what we might have and has to beat chest to see if we will foolishly reveal it.

The war clouds are forming on the horizon.

 

Putin is establishing a military base in Cuba-controlled Venezuela. That is more dangerous than Syria. We have too many expensive bases in every part of the world. We need to scale back because of lack of manpower as well as lack of modern equipment and lack of money. They say our airplanes are all about 30 years old. Our navy is tiny. Our own borders are a joke.

 

So? We need the ears there!

Pilots like "old" planes because the bugs are all worked out

Says who?

OK we're workin on it.

 

Navy has 279 ships with the hope of increasing to 355 under Trump. Many say we need 400.

 

OK thanks.

Russia has 35

Active Russian Navy Ships (2019)

 

It's China who is trying to build a navy. We have problems in the orient. Trump wants a build up to match the problems. European navies are also small.

 

I like Mattis and don't like the way this all came down.

Mattis resigned over their differences, and that's what he should have done, but it was unprofessional and not military like for him to imply a diss of the President's foreign policies in his resignation. He should do that in person. Call it professional courtesy.

So Trump released him immediately instead of a couple of months down the road. I understand this , as well. However, I believe he should have let him work out his resignation time. Call it professional courtesy.

They were both wrong. There are no winners.

 

I hope so , too. OTOH are we supposed to leave them there forever? When is the right time? It doesn't appear that any of the naysayers have an answer for that question.

The same goes for Iraq and Afghanistan.

One thing we should have learned from all this, islam is incompatible with any form of democracy that we would approve of. Couple that with an impossibly tribal society, and we see the impossibility of the entire situation. But he destroyed Obama's creation, ISIS. And that was his goal. Obama couldn't, or wouldn't, do it. Trump did.

Given all that, when do we leave? Or do we just stay there forever?

The buck stopped at the President's desk and he was not afraid to make the decision. Good for him. He is anything but indecisive. Now, I for one, am willing to see what happens. I'm sure we won't like it, but the alternative is an eternal presence in Syria or carry out Obama's stated policy of regime change there...and still stay forever. Which?

Is either what we want?