Gen. "Mad Dog" Mattis Secretary of Defense

[aztek]

6 hours ago, Essan said:

If you make your enemy your friend, no-one dies.  

yea exactly IF......  

actually we do it when we can, but in real world, thing do not work like in "IF" world. 

[RavenHawk]

On 12/2/2016 at 8:36 AM, Ashotep said:

The Iraq war we started, they had nothing to do with 9/11.  We meddled in Libya, Syria, funded rebels that are now terrorists.  We supported the Muslim Brotherhood and look what happened in Egypt.  We have a big hand in what is going on.

Well yes and no.  Nothing directly, but the same reason that gave birth to Bin Laden and the Muslim Brotherhood would have risen in Iraq if we had just sat back and did nothing.  We didn’t invade Iraq because of 9/11 (there were marginal ties between Saddam and Bin Laden).  We had plans on taking out Saddam long before 9/11 when he was breaking the cease fire.  It’s just that Bin Laden came along unexpectedly and stole the limelight.  This was problematic as we now had secular and sectarian arms of the same movement we were dealing with.  The thing is, is that if we had stayed in Iraq, that would have thwarted both Sunni and Shia plans acting like a control rod in a nuclear reactor.

 

The meddling in Libya and Syria should have never happened; I think it was Obama’s attempt at pulling a Reagan in Afghanistan to help ISIS.  Where as McCain wanted to take out Assad to stand up to Putin.  What happened was a comedy of errors.  And I think Salman, Khamenei, and Putin know this and have all been taking advantage of it.  Trump will put an end to this.

[RavenHawk]

On 12/2/2016 at 8:53 AM, Ashotep said:

Here's some quotes from Mattis.  I liked 3.

All of them are great.  But I like 12:

“You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.”

 

It’s sad because it is prophetic.  Many here live in a protected fantasy dream world as most of the Left here do.

[Tatetopa]

5 hours ago, Lilly said:

I was just running with the 'mad dog' nick-name. I do not think the esteemed General is in anyway a crazed killer.

Hi Lilly.  I am sure you didn't  I know he is called mad dog as well as the warrior monk.  I grabbed onto your post to make my own point.  This man is a warrior, he has integrity and honor. He is a patriot. He certainly has his own conservative or liberal viewpoints, but I think he is capable of seeing beyond them and beyond the moment.  Above all, to be a successful field commander, he has had to analyze real world data and respond to it.   He has had to know what drives his troops and his adversary to formulate a winning strategy.

That is why I fear he is at loggerheads with the past and incoming administrations.  Politicians of either liberal or conservative persuasions tend to spin facts into the picture they want to promote and have others see. Gen, Mattis does not seem well suited to that thankfully. I cannot picture him mixing well with the self-serving alligators that are beginning to fill the swampy new cabinet.  He won't be allowed to hunt them, and in the end they will either discredit him or force him to leave.

[RavenHawk]

46 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

Trump is putting the worst possible human beings in top positions. The very people he swore to rid Washington of. Sessions, chao , priebus , munchkin WTF about those people says outsider or different? Its the same schmucks who have been running the nation the same way for decades.  Hell he even hired the RNC chief for christs sake. 

I explain that in my thread “Drain the Swamp”.  These people have the expertise that Trump can use.  If they don’t fulfill his wishes, they’ll be gone and Trump will put someone else in that role.  He doesn’t care is they are Establishment.

[Farmer77]

Just now, RavenHawk said:

 

I explain that in my thread “Drain the Swamp”.  These people have the expertise that Trump can use.  If they don’t fulfill his wishes, they’ll be gone and Trump will put someone else in that role.  He doesn’t care is they are Establishment.

Considering the resume of those folks that sounds an awful lot like wishful thinking.  

Trying to word this without sounding antagonistic , thats not my goal. Out of curiosity though what would it take for you to be like "oh hell we got scammed"? 

[Unusual Tournament]

18 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

I come from a military family. My little brothers in intellgence in the airforce. So I don't have a problem with it.

People for some reason think if they are in the military then it means they must be robotic killers who just want to go to war with everyone. Not really true. Alot of them seem to hate violence more then the common person since they know from expierence 

Nah. I don't believe that the American armed forces are 'robotic killers' its just that in this case, Trump is blurring the line between an elected civilian government and a military one... dare i say junta. I know its an extreme label. Then again Trump is an extreme president elect.   

[RavenHawk]

6 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

Considering the resume of those folks that sounds an awful lot like wishful thinking.  

Wishful thinking cannot compete here.  It is a matter of wills and the wills of the Cabinet will lose.

 

Trying to word this without sounding antagonistic , thats not my goal. Out of curiosity though what would it take for you to be like "oh hell we got scammed"? 

I think that is a very fair and appropriate question.  How does anyone know that we haven’t been scammed?  Nobody does until it happens and he hasn’t been inaugurated yet.  Give him a chance.  I usually pick up on character before most people.  And my sense of this man’s character is one of honesty.  He is strong.  That still doesn’t mean that the course of fate won’t step in but I feel that Trump will deliver.  It might not be 100% to my liking but he will do well for America.

[SHaYap]

5 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

 

Well, I hope you’ll get use to peeing in your pants and crying a bucket full.

Oh you silly Chicken Hawk ... it sounds more like you squeaking and squealing like a hog pouring out a bucketful of stink ...

Yes indeed ...

~

[Ashotep]

6 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

 

Flynn, Mattis, and Dunford will bring a world of hurt down on our enemies.  That’s two Marines and someone that wanted to be a Marine.

They will make ISIS pee their pants.

[Yamato]

7 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Only when you open your mouth.  As zz stated, your reputation precedes you.  You have a manner about you that every thing you write takes on a negative meaning.  It makes you come across as an **SNIP**.  Don’t know if you really are unaware of this or if this is the only way you can get attention??  I’d love to spend a little time with your family and colleagues.  But then you pull this, what did little-innocent-ol-me do wrong holier than thou attitude.  It really gets sickening at times.

**Going around profanity filters defeats their purpose.**

Yes, what did I do wrong?   That's pretty much the question I'd ask. 

"Only when you open your mouth."  Like where, exactly?   What's the problem, now?

Profanity filters?   I have a reputation for profanity?   No I don't.   I'm sorry if you feel sick that I have no idea what you're complaining about.    The profanity that got filtered on this thread was Mattis's own quotes.

Why don't you try as hard as you can to get me banned, maybe you'll feel better?

[Yamato]

Quote

“You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.”

It’s sad because it is prophetic.  Many here live in a protected fantasy dream world as most of the Left here do.

It's not prophetic of things from the future that haven't happened yet, it's descriptive of things from the past that actually happened and things from the present that still do.

 

[White-Coyote]

I didn't read the whole thread.... Didn't even read part of it to be perfectly honest. Didn't have to to know what I think about it.

 

Oorah!!

[Yamato]

I posted about Gen. Mattis earlier this year, when the Rebloodlickins were suggesting that they stop the Donald by running a hurry up offense running Mattis for President.  

I wouldn't be surprised if Trump called him after that nooze came out, and asked him if he'd be interested in the Defense Sec. position.

 

[Yamato]

China can raise a little sand in the sea around China, who cares?   They building military bases outside of Jina or something?   We can do it 900 times but it's not okay when they do it off their coast?

Trump's already on the phone with Taiwan, so who knows what's going on?   Who Knows what Adventures we'll Have!?

China has a pit bull though, it's called North Korea.   Right on China's border too.   We can't stand over here, what they do all the way over there.    North Korea is such a nuisance to our leaders.   We're trying so hard to cook up fear dogs about Iran, Russia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya...and Kim goes: "I nuke you!"   Or something about his even bigger Dong missiles.   We just roll our eyes and pretend it didn't happen, because it's so incompatible with the fear narratives we're selling.  

So now we've got a bulldog too, in all likelihood.   President Trump to whoever in 2017: "I can't be held personally responsible for what Secretary Mattis does to you."

 

[Frank Merton]

I wonder; I know of several generals and retired generals and quite a number of large corporation presidents and retired presidents, but I can't think of anyone from the academic world.  Maybe there have been and it escaped me.  Still, it tends, along with global warming being a Chinese fraud, and the impoverished vocabulary, and the rabid anti-intellectualism repeatedly expressed in his rallies and roundly cheered, if maybe, just maybe, the US has elected an ignorant, stupid nincompoop.

[Yamato]

The case Trump is making about China manipulating their currency is ridiculous.   They're the biggest creditor nation in the world and they're lending us money hand over fist.   You can't do that and not have a sufficient money supply, ergo, manipulating their currency.

That's why the Brits didn't want the Euro, because they couldn't manipulate their own currency!   It's why the Eurozone is going to fall apart.   The UK has leverage and doesn't want to give it up.  Here in the US we've been between 0% and 1% federal interest rates for years, totally unprecedented.   If anyone is manipulating currency it's the US Dollar and Japanese Yen.   I don't know why it's a tantrum on Twitter when China's at >4% and we're at <1%. 

What's the deal here?  China's not allowed to go below 5% or something? 

https://www.google.com/#q=interest+rates+in+china

I saw a piece on CNN (maybe) a few days ago where some guest was making Trump out to be Putin's dream come true.  Suggesting Trump is simple minded, that he loses his focus in the middle of his sentences, that he runs both ways on an issue, suggesting that a clever mastermind like Putin will be able to play him easily.   I wouldn't be so sure.  I don't see Trump walking all over Putin either though.

Putin is shrewd, but Trump is far shrewder than the American people and his competition.   So if manipulating currency is China's fault, global warming could also be China's fault.

Still, Mattis would never merely want to make someone feel warmer. 

[Tatetopa]

On 12/3/2016 at 4:11 PM, Yamato said:

It’s sad because it is prophetic.  Many here live in a protected fantasy dream world as most of the Left here do.

True but only half the truth; the Right just lives in a different fantasy dream world.

[Yamato]

2 hours ago, Tatetopa said:

True but only half the truth; the Right just lives in a different fantasy dream world.

I don't know how you wound up accidentally quoting me with the quote above, but I never said that.   Regardless, you are twice as correct as Ravenhawk's half truth.

I don't bother with "Left" and "Right" because there's a degree of separation there from the guilt and blame that many people deserve.   There are proper names that the exact people call themselves who are doing the exact things that we find so reprehensible.  They're called Democrats and Republicans.  

[Yamato]

On 12/2/2016 at 10:15 AM, Ashotep said:

If you are going to start a war you should be in it to win it.

We're in a war with ISIS right?   Undeclared of course. 

"They're in 32 countries."  Who said that?  

As lovable as Mattis is in these parts, and as much lust for violence as he has, even he can't win that one.

I like Mattis not because I agree with the mob here to foolishly go wage another dumb unwinnable war.   I like Mattis in the shred of belief I'm reserving perhaps until later that a Donald Trump that's more intelligent than Barack Obama will keep his much loved appointee on a leash.   Of course I don't know why, after he says 100 times that we're going to defeat ISIS and do it very quickly.  If he wants to do that he can't invade 32 countries with the US military he'll have to find a smarter way.

[preacherman76]

I highly doubt Trump is going to do anything more with ISIS then make them no longer a threat to Syria. Between us and Russia that should be over in a weekend or so. He talks about getting out of these wars not furthering them. One thing not many seem to get is, Mad dog works for Trump, not the other way around.

[Ashotep]

3 hours ago, Yamato said:

We're in a war with ISIS right?   Undeclared of course. 

"They're in 32 countries."  Who said that?  

As lovable as Mattis is in these parts, and as much lust for violence as he has, even he can't win that one.

I like Mattis not because I agree with the mob here to foolishly go wage another dumb unwinnable war.   I like Mattis in the shred of belief I'm reserving perhaps until later that a Donald Trump that's more intelligent than Barack Obama will keep his much loved appointee on a leash.   Of course I don't know why, after he says 100 times that we're going to defeat ISIS and do it very quickly.  If he wants to do that he can't invade 32 countries with the US military he'll have to find a smarter way.

So you think if we start a war we shouldn't try to win it.  We should just throw up our hands and do nothing anywhere since they are in 32 countries.  Maybe Mary Poppins should be SOD and not Mattis, she would give ISIS lollypops and not a bullet to the head.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Ashotep

[Yamato]

7 minutes ago, Ashotep said:

So you think if we start a war we shouldn't try to win it.  We should just throw up our hands and do nothing anywhere since they are in 32 countries.  Maybe Mary Poppins should be SOD and not Mattis, she would give ISIS lollypops and not a bullet to the head.

So once again it's war, or it's do nothing?  That classical neocon bs choice from October 2002 just never seems to go away.   War or nothing.   War or Mary Poppins.   At what point does a fake news BS war get so old we throw in the towel?   Never?  

This govt starts wars on all kinds of stupid **** it can't win.  We haven't won a war in 70 years but we sure as hell can't stop trying to win them huh?   Hell no I don't think we should keep trying forever to win unwinnable wars.   It should be beyond obvious to everyone here that there's a 0% chance of winning a military war against an enemy in 32 countries.   The Constitution is truly dead if you Americans actually think we can do such a thing. 

Make me the SOD and I'll bomb 32 countries with marijuana seeds.  I'll bomb your yard too.   People need to learn how to chill and coexist in the world already.   It's always another hero from govt that's going to solve all our problems.  Where does this eternal blind faith in government come from?   They solve one problem and make two more. 

Speaking of wars on all kinds of stupid **** it can't win, the "war" on drugs doesn't require military invasions, maybe working with countries in the world and doing some police work would be an actual option for combating our manufactured enemies instead of playing our silly little war games with each other in the desert and thinking that's adequate. 

[aquatus1]

4 hours ago, preacherman76 said:

One thing not many seem to get is, Mad dog works for Trump, not the other way around.

I sincerely hope Trump understands it is a bit more difficult to get rid of his picks than merely by telling them "You're fired."

[Ashotep]

15 minutes ago, Yamato said:

So once again it's war, or it's do nothing?  That classical neocon bs choice from October 2002 just never seems to go away.   War or nothing.   War or Mary Poppins.   At what point does a fake news BS war get so old we throw in the towel?   Never?  

This govt starts wars on all kinds of stupid **** it can't win.  We haven't won a war in 70 years but we sure as hell can't stop trying to win them huh?   Hell no I don't think we should keep trying forever to win unwinnable wars.   It should be beyond obvious to everyone here that there's a 0% chance of winning a military war against an enemy in 32 countries.   The Constitution is truly dead if you Americans actually think we can do such a thing. 

Make me the SOD and I'll bomb 32 countries with marijuana seeds.  I'll bomb your yard too.   People need to learn how to chill and coexist in the world already.   It's always another hero from govt that's going to solve all our problems.  Where does this eternal blind faith in government come from?   They solve one problem and make two more. 

Speaking of wars on all kinds of stupid **** it can't win, the "war" on drugs doesn't require military invasions, maybe working with countries in the world and doing some police work would be an actual option for combating our manufactured enemies instead of playing our silly little war games with each other in the desert and thinking that's adequate. 

No one said its war or its do nothing.  All I said was if we are going to start a war we should be in it to win it and because I said that you go off about how we can't fight ISIS in 32 countries, we shouldn't be trying to win unwinnable wars.  I don't know for sure what you are even advocating, that we should just give up fighting ISIS.  Run with our tails tucked between our legs and just let them kill and maim their way across the middle east because we can't win. 

I do agree the government starts wars sometimes they shouldn't.  Sometimes we should just stay out of it.

What does the war on drugs have to do with the war against ISIS.  Just thought you would throw that in there.  Personally I think drugs is a medical problem for the most part and should be treated as such and marijuana shouldn't even be illegal, should be treated like alcohol.  I say most part because anyone making meth or these other dangerous drugs should go to jail but not the people using it, they need treatment.  Treatment and education will be what wins the war on drugs.

You bomb my house with marijuana seeds and I'll spray you with weed killer.