Mad Dog Mattis The Paper Tiger

The Mattis Myth

Secretary of Defense Mattis might be the first cabinet official to have his job thanks to Facebook memes. While cool Mattis quotes became fodder for veterans and their boosters he became a legend. A legend created by Mattis himself. Military leaders historically used the press before to achieve psychological aims at home and abroad. Napoleon so deftly controlled his image that disasters like the Egyptian campaign were sold as victories at home. The problem with propaganda is that it is an omnidirectional weapon that harms friend and foe alike. Unlike many famous generals in history Mattis has never won a war, nor waged a decisive campaign. He found victory in the minds of the American people by creating a legend based upon his selflessness, standards, and intelligence. When you look closely you find that all of these were overhyped and distorted. Mattis’ story remains essentially unchallenged. I believe that no public figure is above scrutiny and I write this in the spirit of openness and accountability.

On Christmas day of 1998 General Krulak was delivering cookies to the unlucky Marines who had guard duty in Quantico, VA.  He was surprised to learn that then Brigadier General Mattis was the duty officer. Mattis explained that he took the shift from a young Major so he could spend time with is family. It’s a story of self-sacrifice and kindness that warms the heart. Until you start to look. First off Mattis is a lifelong bachelor. You can’t really say that you’re sacrificing your time when you have nothing better to do. Second General Krulak delivered cookies every Christmas which means that Mattis knew his boss would see his kind gesture. What at first glance is a selfless act came at no personal cost to Mattis and gained the favor of his commander.

Tom Ricks is an influential author, reporter, and columnist for national security affairs. His books are best sellers and he frequently contributes to such high profile publications as Foreign Policy Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Washington Post. In “The Generals” he laments the American military’s refusal to fire generals for incompetence. He cheerfully approved Mattis’ firing of 1/1 commander Colonel Joe Dowdy as a return to the standard of accountability.

Dowdy’s regiment encountered unexpected resistance from the Fedayeen Saddam in the city of Al-Kut. The Fedayeen were loyal to Saddam personally they operated  as stay behind guerrillas. The Fedayeen fought the initial invasion of Iraq more effectively than the Iraqi Army or Republican Guard and were the first major force in the subsequent guerrilla war. The CIA reported the capabilities of the Fedayeen, but bureaucratic processes devalued this intelligence for the invasion plan. No invasion plan considered the Fedayeen at all.

Generals Mattis and Kelly were disappointed that Colonel Dowdy wasn’t moving as fast as the plan demanded. When he couldn’t complete his fighting on schedule Mattis relieved Dowdy of command. For added humiliation Mattis ordered Dowdy to surrender his pistol. This reflects poorly on the competence and character of Mattis. Mattis is a voracious reader who served during the abortive reforms of commandant Al Gray should have known the difference between a command push and a recon pull. Reviewing the doctrine of maneuver warfare reveals that unplanned delays, like what Colonel Dowdy encountered, are both inevitable and opportunities for tactical maneuver by adjacent units. Mattis’ inability to grasp the intelligence on the ground made  a mockery of his intent to be a general that briefed his staff. His unwillingness to make a bold tactical adjustment reveal incompetent officership and lazy scholarship. Tactically the firing was a blunder. Morally the firing was cruel. By stripping Colonel Dowdy of his pistol in a hostile country Mattis’ revealed a deep contempt for his subordinate as a person. The fact that this incompetent and immoral act added to the Mattis mystique is as deep an indictment of his boosters as himself.

His badass quotes and stories were already spreading when he was an active duty Marine. After he retired he was able to solidify his reputation as a warrior scholar with serious input on national security policy. He gave interviews and speeches at prestigious colleges and think tanks. He delighted audiences with cool stories from his career. In one the captured terrorist he interrogated wanted to immigrate to the US after meeting Mattis. In another he was forced to write book reports for his commanders as a junior officer. He name dropped his favorite authors without ever discussing their implications in detail. Russia was belittled as a fragile and crumbling state. Iran was demonized as a rogue state. He had successfully buttressed his reputation with minimal political risk. He served on the Board of Directors of the fraudulent Theranos. His relationship to this company before and after retirement also went largely unnoticed, but not unrewarded. Not surprisingly he was a shoe-in for Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration.

As Secretary of Defense Mattis has publicly contradicted his commander in chief’s decisions. Adding conditions post hoc to the summit with Kim Jong Un unilaterally. He approved the National Defense Strategy Summary of 2018 which reoriented the US military toward antagonizing great powers with conventional capabilities that rival our own. This relegates the wars against non-state terror groups to secondary importance despite their hostile operations. He also fired a Pentagon fraud inspector while facing independent inquiries that he favored Amazon for technical products. Somehow this self-serving insubordination was celebrated as "independence" when Mattis finally resigned as Secretary of Defense. The Mattis myth makes all of this shocking, but the Mattis record makes it all predictable. The Mad Dog turned out to be a Paper Tiger.

PR Wars
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/napoleon/napoleon-used-media-boost-greatness.html
http://archive.fo/jtYGv

Guard Duty
https://www.stripes.com/blogs-archive/the-rumor-doctor/the-rumor-doctor-1.104348/did-gen-mattis-pull-duty-on-christmas-so-a-marine-could-be-with-his-family-1.134995
http://archive.fo/SDJZJ

Tom Ricks “The Generals”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/22/a-secdef-nominee-at-war-what-i-wrote-about-general-mattis-in-the-generals/
http://archive.fo/ad9P2

Colonel Dowdy
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hired-to-drain-the-swamp-fired-in-less-than-a-year/
http://archive.fo/NTwUC

Fedayeen Saddam
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/iraq-what-fedayeen-saddam
https://web.archive.org/web/20180208004308/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/iraq-what-fedayeen-saddam

Retirement Tour
Conversations with History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOc38ZwEO8s
Hoover Institution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKIJKQRb53o
Heritage Foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCD5zHBNWG8

Theranos
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/378394-sec-charges-theranos-ceo-with-massive-fraud
http://archive.fo/yEKsJ
https://taskandpurpose.com/mattis-theranos-questions/
http://archive.fo/rSnPj

Mattis unilaterally provides conditions.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-troops-in-south-korea-not-up-for-discussion-at-trump-kim-summit-mattis
https://archive.li/AyEPR
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-usa-pentagon/relief-for-north-korea-only-after-clear-irreversible-steps-to-denuclearisation-mattis-idUKKCN1IZ00W
https://archive.li/IBdQ3

2018 National Defense Strategy Summary
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20180125003909/https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf

Mattis fired a Pentagon official who was looking for waste, fraud, and abuse.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hired-to-drain-the-swamp-fired-in-less-than-a-year/
http://archive.fo/NTwUC

Fraud discovered anyway.
https://www.thenation.com/article/pentagon-audit-budget-fraud/
http://archive.fo/1pamw

PI firm, RossettiStarr, shopping dossier to undermine Pentagon cloud contract for $10b. Mattis and his aides directed it toward a no bid contract for Amazon, in light of their CIA connections.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/08/someone-waging-secret-war-undermine-pentagons-huge-cloud-contract/150685/?oref=d-mostread
https://web.archive.org/web/20180825032931/https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/08/someone-waging-secret-war-undermine-pentagons-huge-cloud-contract/150685/?oref=d-mostread
https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2018/08/24/jedi-rfp-update.aspx
http://archive.fo/MAAlu
https://www.axios.com/pentagon-cloud-contract-secret-dossier-amazon-aws-2b51ad14-2415-4ef6-9f1c-752a6d06ae0c.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20180822193206/https://www.axios.com/pentagon-cloud-contract-secret-dossier-amazon-aws-2b51ad14-2415-4ef6-9f1c-752a6d06ae0c.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/08/21/secret-dossier-greek-philosophy-vanity-fair-the.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20180825035058/https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/08/21/secret-dossier-greek-philosophy-vanity-fair-the.html
https://govmatters.tv/report-controversy-surrounding-dods-jedi-cloud-contract/
http://archive.fo/mM0Fp


Mattis resigned because Trump was pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/jim-mattis-defense-secretary-trump.html
http://archive.fo/cu73n
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/12/20/defense-secretary-mattis-resigns-citing-differences-with-trump/
http://archive.fo/enKfe