MacArthur and Truman, Mattis and Trump -- the US Constitution Always Calls the Result for the Commander-in-Chief

FAREWELL TO A GREAT GENERAL. We will miss you and we thank you humbly for devoting your life to America. There is no question that Four-Star General James Mattis was a great military strategist and leader. His excellence was proven over 40 years of service to the United States. His military career, combined with his innate intelligence and personality, had taught him several things that every great military commander knows -- total preparation, unending observation of the situation and probable enemy, and self-discipline and decisionmaking skills that fit within the up-and-down military chain-of-command model. • General Mattis shares those traits of a great military leader with Five-Star General Douglas MacArthur. And, it was those traits that almost inevitably led to both MacArthur and Mattis trying to fit their civilian Commander-in-Chief into their own military mold. • • • TRUMAN AND MacARTHUR. General MacArthur tried when he was in Korea fighting back the Chinese who led the North Korean war on the South. He had the North on the run as he pushed them back toward the North Korea-China border. His Commander-in-Chief, President Harry Truman ordered him to stop. MacArthur decided to use his military excellence to push the President along the always-fuzzy chain of command that exists between any senior military commander and his civilian Commander-in-Chief President. Truman tried to stop MacArthur and finally fired him for ignoring the order. • Even today, many military experts and analysts come down on the side of General MacArthur. He was, after all, a great general. He had led the World War II Pacific Theatre retreat and retaking, forcing the Japanese military back to their islands, accepting their surrender himself on a USS ship in the Pacific, and then directing the recreation of modern Japan as its post-WWII governor. • President Truman was, after all, only a small businessman, a haberdasher from Missouri chosen by President Franklin Roosevelt because of his midwestern voter appeal. He just happened to "be there" when FDR died in 1945 and became President by default. When he ran on his own in the 1948 presidential election, he was expected to lose and was actually called the loser on election night -- before all the votes were counted. The next morning the famous New York Times headline read "Truman defeats Dewey." So, it was understandable that the US and world press called for Truman to re-instate MacArthur or resign. But, Harry Truman was the man who had on his desk a sign that said "The buck stops here." He would not reverse his decision. He was right not to do so, even though today, I, among many, still lament the firing of General Douglas MacArthur and wonder what the world would look like today if he had been allowed to retake the entire Korean peninsula before negotiating a truce with the North and its protector, China. • President Truman was right because the US Constitution does not give ultimate military decisionmaking power to the military. It gives that awesome power to the President of the United States, acting in his role as Commander-in-Chief. US military commanders and leaders may argue with the President, deluge him with military plans and calculations, and even walk a slow walk in carrying out his orders. But, at the end of the day, the President who is the Commander-in-Chief always wins. The Constitution directs that result. If Americans do not agree with the course the Commander-in-Chief takes, they can elect a new President. • • • TRUMP AND MATTIS. It has been clear from the beginning that General Mattis and President Trump do not agree on all elements of the President's foreign policy, especially toward NATO, and any President's foreign policy is inextricably intertwined with the US military. Over the last two years, President Trump has announced a ban on transgender troops, canceled joint US-South Korea military exercises, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and deployed troops to the US-Mexico border, among other moves that Mattis reportedly opposed. But, candidate Trump promised that as President he would rebuild the US military that had been allowed by President Obama to sink into obsolescence. President Trump delivered on his promise, spending almost $1 Trillion to renovate and renew the US military capability. Marine General James Mattis, the most admired -- revered is the better word -- military commander of his generation took off his military uniform and put on civilian clothes to lead the renovation. There were those at the time who questioned the wisdom of a very recently retired military commander becoming the "civilian" head of the Department of Defense. General Mattis needed a congressional waiver to even be considered, but such was his renown that it was instantly granted. And so, Marine General Mattis became Secretary of Defense Mattis. He did an excellent job, advising the President and Congress about what was needed and setting and supervising the timetable for the renovation. All the while, Secretary Mattis traveled the world, reconnecting the US military and defense leadership with its counterparts around the world. Jim Mattis, that totally prepared observer of the situation and enemy, that self-disciplined and highly skilled decisionmaker, used his up-and-down military chain-of-command model to perfection. But, there were occasional media reports of disagreements with the President, and on rare occasions Secretary Mattis would quietly but publicly "correct" President Trump's explanation about what was happening at DOD. • It all seems to have come to a head over President Trump's Middle East policy. The President was ready to withdraw ground troops from northern Syria and reportedly was ready to begin downsizing in Afghanistan. It shouldn't be a surprise to any American who listens to President Trump. In his Acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July 2016, Donald Trump said : "The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect. This will all change in 2017. The American People will come first once again....We must have the best intelligence gathering operation in the world. We must abandon the failed policy of nation building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria. Instead, we must work with all of our allies who share our goal of destroying ISIS and stamping out Islamic terror." In his Seoul speech in November 2017, President Trump said : "America’s men and women in uniform have given their lives in the fight against Nazism, imperialism, Communism and terrorism. America does not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will never run from it. History is filled with discarded regimes that have foolishly tested America’s resolve. Anyone who doubts the strength or determination of the United States should look to our past, and you will doubt it no longer. We will not permit America or our allies to be blackmailed or attacked. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. We will not be intimidated. And we will not let the worst atrocities in history be repeated here, on this ground, we fought and died so hard to secure." Those are the words of a President who puts 'America First" and who does not believe in being everywhere all the time nation building and protecting people who do not try to protect themselves. • Then, on Wednesday, President Trump took up the Syria issue head-on, announcing his decision to pull 2,000 US troops out of northern Syria. The media and Swamp explosion was immediate and to be expected. All those who had given President Obama high marks for trying to keep US troop deployments in the Middle East to a minimum now viciously attacked the despised President Trump for taking a small step in the same direction. President Trump released a Twitter video on Wednesday declaring the US had beaten the Islamic State "badly" and praising America's fighting men and women as heroes. The President said on Thursday morning that his decision to pull troops out of Syria was no surprise, tweeting it is time for the troops to come home and for the United States to start to rebuild : "Getting out of Syria was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing their work. Time to come home & rebuild. #MAGA." It is true that earlier this year, Trump was public about his desire to withdraw troops from Syria but gave his military and national security advisors six months to accomplish their goal. Later on Thursday, President Trump again defended his decision on Twitter : "Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight………Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the US leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us. I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!" • And, Jim Mattis immediately resigned. President Trump announced on Thursday evening that Defense Secretary James Mattis will be retiring on February 28 after serving in the role for two years, adding : "During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment. General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service!" • The Pentagon released a copy of Mattis' signed resignation letter. Mattis wrote that he has "been privileged to serve" in his role as Defense Secretary and acknowledged the department's record during his time there. Mattis said that a strong nation relies on a "comprehensive" network of alliances, and must be "resolute and unambiguous" in approaching countries with strategic differences, citing China and Russia. THEN came the stinger : "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." It was polite. Jim Mattis is by all accounts a very polite person. It was as direct as he must have thought advisable if he wanted to leave behind a military in good working order with high morale, something President Trump had re-established in the rank and file, as well as in the command. • Again, the reaction was swift from Pentagon officials and members of the foreign policy establishment. Senator Lindsey Graham, a former military officer and strong supporter of the US military in the Senate, said Mattis "provided sound and ethical military advice to President Trump. He is a role model for the concept of Duty, Honor, Country." The reaction lined up neatly in the Democrat elites, who fretted about what the resignation said about the Commander-in-Chief. • If we consider another paragraph in Secretary Mattis' resignation letter --"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." -- we see the ultimate sticking point. General Mattis was still a Four-Star General trying to be a civilian Secretary of Defense. Of course, there is little in that paragraph to disagree with on an objective level, but on a political level -- as the words of a Cabinet officer should reflect the policies of his President -- those words cut against President Trump's longstanding foreign policy agenda of keeping America strong and supporting allies in trouble but spending the bulk of America's wealth on "America First" and forcing other nations to step up to their own defense. • Secretary Mattis also expressed his concerns with how President Trump is treating two US rivals -- China and Russia, writing : "I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours." Again, there is nothing to disagree with in those words when they are spoken by a military leader. But, the Cabinet officer, the Secretary of Defense, had to appreciate that President Trump is not seeking military confrontation. He is seeking political cooperation by keeping lines open to both Russia and China in the hope that their sense of self-preservation will allow them to accept America's offered handshake of peace. • The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is considering a "significant drawdown" of US troops in the country, saying it could start as soon as within several weeks. Reuters, citing two officials, similarly reported that the administration was considering a "significant reduction" in the 14,000 military personnel in Afghanistan. Coming on the heels of a Syria pullout announcement, the load seems to have been too much for General Mattis -- despite what must have been his sincere and strenuous effort to be a Cabinet Secretary of Defense. That President Trump was defending the Syria decision in a series of tweets and comments over the past 24 hours, saying he wanted to bring troops home, caused the Wall Street Journal write that a senior US official said : "I think it shows how serious the President is about wanting to come out of conflicts. I think he wants to see viable options about how to bring conflicts to a close." And, after being persuaded by defense officials and then-national security advisor, General H.R. McMaster, to introduce a new Afghanistan strategy in August 2017 that included an indefinite time commitment and sending thousands more troops to the country, President Trump said in an Oval Office speech to the nation that his "original instinct was to pull out," but he said the calculation is different "when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office." • Senator Graham continues to criticize the Syria pull-out decision and plans to introduce a resolution calling on Trump to reverse his decision. "Mr. President, you have a chance to change course. You've got a lot of bipartisan support to do so. Take advantage of it," Graham said at a news conference alongside Senators Jack Reed and Bob Menendez, the top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, respectively. President Trump's answer to Senator Graham, a friend, was swift. The President wrote on Twitter : "It is hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$. Why are we fighting for our enemy, Syria, by staying & killing ISIS for them, Russia, Iran & other locals? Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!" • • • DEAR READERS, we can take away from President Trump's announced Syria troop withdrawal and the reported imminent Afghanistan troop drawdown that President Trump understands that the Cold War with the Soviets is over, and we won. It has taken 25 years and four meandering Presidents before Donald Trump was elected with the stated mission of ceasing the US meddling all over the world as its police force and nation builder. He has twice told the UN General Assembly member countries just that -- challenging them to look out for their own national interests. With the fracking revolution and US energy independence, we can now see the world and our place in it in a more independent light. • On the Reagan Project website, Fritz Pettijohn wrote on Thursday : "For close to a hundred years there have been five Great Powers in the world, the United States, Europe, Russia, China and Japan. And that’s the way it’s going to be in the foreseeable future. Geopolitics deals with the relations between these Great Powers. Japan and the Anglosphere (USA and friends) have the unique advantage of being maritime and trading nations, separate and apart from Asia and, thus, from the other three, land based powers. World War Two was won because of superior resources, and Japan learned a great lesson. Alone among the Great Powers, the USA is capable of complete self reliance. Since they understand this in the context of the most wrenching event in Japanese history, they will never fight the Anglosphere again. Japan is a great power in its own right, but it is almost like it’s a member of the Anglosphere. The rest of the world can go to hell. Japan and the Anglosphere will get along just fine. The United States has a special relation to Israel, because America is a Christian nation. Israel is a Holy Land, where Christ the Savior was born and crucified. For hundreds of years Christians fought the Crusades for control of the Holy Lands. America will not allow Moslems to control this land again. So Israel is safe. Other than that, our interests are almost wholly mercenary. Where can we get the best deal? We’d like to try to see if a deal could be made with Russia. A new understanding with Russia would result in an enormous increase in Russian economic output. With some imported American technology, the Russian economy could take off, to the immense benefit of the Russian people. We would want some security guarantees, and a draw down in nuclear weaponry. But, because of Putin’s adventurism, the Russian Option is off the table for now. So, for now, the Anglosphere, Japan and Europe are arrayed against the Great Powers of the Asian landmass, Russia and China, ancient and continuing rivals. Syria and Afghanistan have nothing to do with any of this, and are therefor useless to us, in geopolitical terms. These places mean nothing to us, and President Trump has finally decided to put his foot down, and get out. God bless him for it. I hate seeing young Americans die for nothing." • In his Farewell Address at West Point Military Academy in 1976, General MacArthur struck the note for those who lead the defense of America : “Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be...they build your basic character; they mold you for your future roles as custodians of the nation’s defense....They teach you...to be an officer and a gentleman....In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you. But I want you to know that when I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps. I bid you farewell.” It was perhaps the greatest speech ever given by an American military figure. • General Mattis did not graduate from West Point. He was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University. A career Marine, he gained a reputation for intellectualism and eventually advanced to the rank of general, serving in the Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. From 2007 to 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander. He was Commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013, when he retired from the military. In January 2017, President Trump appointed him as Secretary of Defense. He's been called "Mad Dog" Mattis, a nickname he detests, and "Warrior Monk" because he's such an intellectual, but whatever we call him, Jim Mattis is beloved and respected by his fellow Marines. And, General Mattis is very quotable, not in the eloquent style of General MacArthur, but with the battlefield wisdom that speaks of his 40 years as a Marine. "I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word." "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." And the thought that may have made it necessary for Jim Mattis to leave a job before it was truly completed : "No war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact the enemy gets a vote." • Perhaps General MacArthur was still fighting the First World War when he clashed with President Truman in 1953. Perhaps General and Secretary Mattis is still fighting the Cold War. But, President Trump has moved on to fight today's war -- a new mix of trade tariffs, border controls, murky coalitions, fast in-and-out air strikes, extreme intelligence gathering, and cyber-attacks. President Truman fired one of the best Generals America has ever produced. President Trump has moved on from one of the best Generals America has ever produced. President Truman won and President Trump will win. Because the US Constitution starkly lays down the law -- the Commander-in-Chief is the President, not US military commanders. The leader of France during World War I, Georges Clemenceau, said, "War is too important to be left to generals." So is foreign policy.