by Jim Mattis
“Buyer beware!”: Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz, Before the First Shots Are Fired (New York: St. Martin’s, 2015), p. 177.
“will kill you one day”: See, for instance, Missy Ryan and Susan Cornwell, “U.S. Says Pakistan’s ISI Supported Kabul Embassy Attack,” Reuters, September 22, 2011.
closed its supply route: Farhan Bokhari, “Pakistan Blasts ‘Unprovoked’ NATO Attacks,” CBS News, November 26, 2011, www.cbsnews.com/news/pakistan-blasts-unprovoked-nato-attacks/.
reducing our numbers: Wikipedia, s.v. “2012 in Afghanistan,” last modified April 6, 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_Afghanistan.
CHAPTER 16
one in every three Arab youths: “Look Forward in Anger,” Economist, August 6, 2016, www.economist.com/briefing/2016/08/06/look-forward-in-anger?frsc=dg%7Ca.
“find out what will be least bad”: Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, December 3, 1807, in Albert Gallatin, The Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1867), p. 367, Google Books.
came out vocally against Mubarak: “Obama Says Egypt’s Transition ‘Must Begin Now,’ ” CNN, February 2, 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/01/us.egypt.obama/.
“the right side of history”: Liz Halloran and Ari Shapiro, “Obama: U.S. Is ‘On Right Side of History’ in Mideast,” NPR, February 15, 2011, www.npr.org/2011/02/15/133779423/obama-u-s-is-on-right-side-of-history-in-mideast.
resolute King Abdullah: Wikipedia, s.v. “2011–12 Jordanian Protests,” last modified April 29, 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_Jordanian_protests.
“most grievous of all…mistakes”: Rear Admiral J. C. Wylie, quoted in John Collins, “National Security Career Choices,” War on the Rocks, September 16, 2013, warontherocks.com/2013/09/national-security-career-choices/.
killed or wounded more than six hundred American troops: Robert Palladino, Department of State press briefing, Washington, DC, April 2, 2019.
“senior members of the Qods Force”: “Two Men Charged in Alleged Plot to Assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States,” Justice News, U.S. Department of Justice, October 11, 2011, www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-men-charged-alleged-plot-assassinate-saudi-arabian-ambassador-united-states. See also Mark Memmott, “ ‘Factions’ of Iran’s Government Behind Terrorist Plot, Holder Says,” NPR, October 11, 2011, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/10/11/141240766/reports-terrorist-plot-tied-to-iran-disrupted.
Zimmermann: Wikipedia, s.v. “Zimmermann Telegram,” last modified April 28, 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram: “The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note) was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire offering a military alliance with Mexico, in the event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. Revelation of the contents outraged American public opinion, and helped generate support for the United States declaration of war on Germany in April of that year. President Woodrow Wilson released telegram and immediately proposed to Congress that American merchant ships be armed to defend against German submarines.”
“willing to exact a serious price”: Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., The Line of Fire (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), p. 201.
“We determine the rules”: Sean Rayment, “Armada of International Naval Power Massing in the Gulf as Israel Prepares an Iran Strike,” Telegraph, September 15, 2012, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9545597/Armada-of-international-naval-power-massing-in-the-Gulf-as-Israel-prepares-an-Iran-strike.html.
“White House didn’t fully trust Mattis”: Leon Panetta, Worthy Fights (New York: Penguin, 2014), p. 435.
“If the strategy be wrong”: Alfred Thayer Mahan, Mahan on Naval Warfare (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1918), p. 12.
needed to be won: George P. Shultz (ed.), Blueprint for America (Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 2016), p. 137.
CHAPTER 17
“What profit to kill men?”: Rudyard Kipling, Kim, in The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902), Google Books.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JIM MATTIS is a Pacific Northwest native who served more than four decades as a Marine infantry officer. Following two years as the Secretary of Defense, he returned to the Pacific Northwest and is now the Davies Family Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
BING WEST has written ten books about combat. He served as a Marine grunt in Vietnam and later as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. He has been on hundreds of patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan, including many operations with General Mattis. He is a member of the Military History Working Group at the Hoover Institution. He lives with his wife, Betsy, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island.
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March 2003
1st Marine Division (REIN)
Commanding General’s Message to All Hands
For decades, Saddam Hussein has tortured, imprisoned, raped and murdered the Iraqi people; invaded neighboring countries without provocation; and threatened the world with weapons of mass destruction. The time has come to end his reign of terror. On your young shoulders rest the hopes of mankind.
When I give you the word, together we will cross the Line of Departure, close with those forces that choose to fight, and destroy them. Our fight is not with the Iraqi people, nor is it with members of the Iraqi army who choose to surrender. While we will move swiftly and aggressively against those who resist, we will treat all others with decency, demonstrating chivalry and soldierly compassion for people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam’s oppression.
Chemical attack, treachery, and use of innocent human shields can be expected, as can other unethical tactics. Take it all in stride. Be the hunter, not the hunted; never allow your unit to be caught with its guard down. Use good judgment and act in the best interests of our Nation.
You are part of the world’s most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon. Share your courage with each other as we enter the uncertain terrain north of the Line of Departure. Keep faith in your comrades on your left and right and Marine Air overhead. Fight with a happy heart and a strong spirit.
For the mission’s sake, our country’s sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division’s colors in past battles—who fought for life and never lost their nerve—carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world there is “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy” than a U.S. Marine.
J.N. Mattis
Major General, U. S. Marines
Commanding
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COMMANDING GENERAL
1st MARINE DIVISION (REIN), FMF
CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA 92055-5380
February 2004
Letter to All Hands,
We are going back into the brawl. We will be relieving the magnificent soldiers fighting under the 82nd Airborne Division, whose hard-won successes in the Sunni Triangle have opened opportunities for us to exploit. For the last year, the 82nd Airborne has been operating against the heart of the enemy’s resistance. It’s appropriate that we relieve them: When it’s time to move a piano, Marines don’t pick up the piano bench—we move the piano. So this is the right place for Marines in this fight, where we can carry on the legacy of Chesty Puller in the Banana Wars in the same sort of complex environment that he knew in his early years. Shoulder to shoulder with our comrades in the Army
, Coalition Forces and maturing Iraqi Security Forces, we are going to destroy the enemy with precise firepower while diminishing the conditions that create adversarial relationships between the Iraqi people and us.
This is going to be hard, dangerous work. It is going to require patient, persistent presence. Using our individual initiative, courage, moral judgment and battle skills, we will build on the 82nd Airborne’s victories. Our country is counting on us even as our enemies watch and calculate, hoping that America does not have warriors strong enough to withstand discomfort and danger. You, my fine young men, are going to prove the enemy wrong—dead wrong. You will demonstrate the same uncompromising spirit that has always caused the enemy to fear America’s Marines.
The enemy will try to manipulate you into hating all Iraqis. Do not allow the enemy that victory. With strong discipline, solid faith, unwavering alertness, and undiminished chivalry to the innocent, we will carry out this mission. Remember, I have added, “First, do no harm” to our passwords of “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy.” Keep your honor clean as we gain information about the enemy from the Iraqi people. Then, armed with that information and working in conjunction with fledgling Iraqi Security Forces, we will move precisely against the enemy elements and crush them without harming the innocent.
This is our test—our Guadalcanal, our Chosin Reservoir, our Hue City. Fight with a happy heart and keep faith in your comrades and your unit. We must be under no illusions about the nature of the enemy and the dangers that lie ahead. Stay alert, take it all in stride, remain sturdy, and share your courage with each other and the world. You are going to write history, my fine young sailors and Marines, so write it well.
Semper Fidelis,
J. N. MATTIS
Major General, U. S. Marines
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SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
1000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1000
December 20, 2018
Dear Mr. President:
I have been privileged to serve as our country’s 26th Secretary of Defense which has allowed me to serve alongside our men and women of the Department in defense of our citizens and our ideals.
I am proud of the progress that has been made over the past two years on some of the key goals articulated in our National Defense Strategy: putting the Department on a more sound budgetary footing, improving readiness and lethality in our forces, and reforming the Department’s business practices for greater performance. Our troops continue to provide the capabilities needed to prevail in conflict and sustain strong U.S. global influence.
One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. NATO’s 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof.
Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model—gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions—to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.
My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.
Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position. The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February. Further, that a full transition to a new Secretary of Defense occurs well in advance of the transition of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability within the Department.
I pledge my full effort to a smooth transition that ensures the needs and interests of the 2.15 million Service Members and 732,079 DoD civilians receive undistracted attention of the Department at all times so that they can fulfill their critical, round-the-clock mission to protect the American people.
I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.
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1 Oct 1991
Lieutenant General R. B. Johnston, USMC Commanding General
I Marine Expeditionary Force
Dear General Johnston:
I served as the Battalion Commander of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines from February 1990 until June 1991. I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with the performance of the MEF Awards Board in its downgrading of awards I submitted on my men. I am at a loss to determine how else to bring my concerns to your attention other than to lay out the situation and send this via General Myatt. From my meager perspective, there is every reason for concern that the Awards Board is not serving your best interest, nor is it meeting the needs of your subordinate commanders and men. I appeal to you to reconsider several specific cases of downgraded awards.
To set the general background for these men’s actions, I will characterize 1/7’s situation as it developed during the Southwest Asia commitment. Nearing the end of a month-long deployment to Bridgeport, the battalion returned to 29 Palms on short notice (6-7 August 1990) . Twelve days later we were the first element of 7th MEB to dig in astride the Kuwait Highway. I am sure you recall the uncertainty, heat and challenges of those early days. Throughout September, October and November we served in the desert with occasional breaks for Marines to clean up in oil worker barracks. In the field, the men lived under spartan conditions, sleeping on the ground and, commencing in December, we had no respites in rear areas. The physical cost to our men was obvious over this time; I was by no means unique in my loss of 23 pounds.
As part of Task Force Ripper, our men moved unhesitantly to breach the two obstacle belts. They were not dismayed by the loss of two of our tanks to mines and incoming artillery during the breach of the second belt which wounded two of my men. The Marines were magnificently led by my subordinate leaders, killing the Iraqis who fought us while shepherding out of danger those who wished to surrender. For example, Captain Bob Hathaway, a mature reflective officer in his second war, led Company A, crossattached to 3d Tank Battalion. I knew his calm courage would steady his young men. I was totally satisfied at the alacrity with which they moved against the Iraqis, rushing through the breaches on the heels of the gun companies.
While under fire at the second belt, my fire support coordinator, Captain Jim Horr, coolly shifted our artillery fire to the Emir’s Farm. Subsequently, we attacked to clear the Farm during which I gave Captain Horr control of the battalion in order for me to move to where I could best command the attack. Captain Horr performed superbly controlling the fire and maneuver and
I recommended him for the Bronze Star. His award was downgraded to a Navy Commendation Medal by the MEF Awards Board.
The danger faced by all my officers and men in the smokey, mine littered battlefield as Iraqi artillery and tank fire was ever present recalls to me that this was not an easy task and I counted on the courage of all hands.
As Ripper moved on towards Al Jaber, my battalion covered the open right flank. As enemy tanks and vehicles appeared out of the Burqan Oil Field’s dense smoke, the individuals most responsible for my security were Captain Don Schutt (FAC), in a vehicle equipped with a laser spotter and First Lieutenant Fran Fitzpatrick, who served throughout as my “eyes” on the continually threatened right flank. They ignored all danger and operated consistently from vulnerable locations in order to direct highly effective Cobra fire on the enemy and to keep me informed. I recommended Captain Schutt for the Silver Star. It was downgraded at MEF to a Bronze Star. I recommended Lieutenant Fitzpatrick for the Bronze star. It was downgraded to a Navy Commendation Medal.
On G+2, 1/7 was again moving north on Ripper’s right flank. We maneuvered around a quarried area and were moving back into position to the right of 3d Tank Battalion when we received tank main gun fire from Iraqis to the northeast. Simultaneously, my Combat Train took machine gun and small arms fire from Iraqi troops in BMPs and bunkers we had unintentionally bypassed in the quarried area. T told my exec, Major John Taylor, to take charge of the situation with the Combat Train. He calmly directed the S-4, Combat Train Commander First Lieutenant Jeff Hooks, to extricate the Combat Train while recalling the reserve company to provide support. My Marine Gunner, with extensive combat experience in Vietnam, was impressed with the volume of Iraqi fire and the response of the Marines. Lance Corporal Castleman provided MK-19 covering fire while Lieutenants Raynor (MTO) and Welborn (MMO) crossed open ground under fire to destroy the BMPs with AT-4/LAAW fire. I recommended these three men for Silver Stars and have received no word on the awards to date. I am concerned that the interval has been such that much of the meaning may be lost. Unfortunately Lance Corporal Castleman died in an auto accident in June 1991.