Defense chief Jim ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis quit after arguing with Trump to KEEP troops in Syria to fight ISIS – then told aides to print 50 copies of his resignation letter to spread around the Pentagon
Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, has been Trump’s only defense secretary
President said he’ll leave in February, ‘retiring with distinction’
The move came just a day after Trump announced a military pullout from Syria
Mattis objected to the drawdown; ISIS still has 30,000 fighters
Trump reportedly followed the Mattis announcement with a demand that the Pentagon pull half its 14,000 troops out of Afghanistan
Trump hinted in October that Mattis might depart, calling him ‘sort of a Democrat’
In a resignation letter, Mattis said he would leave so Trump could have someone in the job who more closely agreed with him
Democrats in Congress pilloried Trump and lamented that one of the few ‘adults in the room’ would be leaving
By DAVID MARTOSKO
DAILYMAIL.COM
21 December 2018
Outgoing Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis handed Donald Trump his resignation letter at the White House on Thursday during an argument after he realized he couldn’t convince the president to reverse course and leave American troops in Syria.
His first order of business when he got back to his office was to tell aides to print 50 copies of the letter, ordering them to distribute them as soon as Trump announced his departure.
Reporters got the letter at the same time Mattis’ most senior generals did, just minutes after the president tweeted his rose-colored interpretation of the letter’s thinly veiled venom.
Hours later, according to White House sources who spoke to multiple news outlets, Trump ordered a partial withdrawal from Afghanistan, pulling out half of the 14,000 U.S. troops out of a conflict he has long claimed America should never have entered.
Mattis, a famously well-read and edurite ‘warrior-monk,’ wrote in careful prose about America’s failure to tend to its crucial international alliances and partnerships, concluding that Trump should find a replacement whose views aligned more with his own,
The president tweeted his thanks for the retired Marine Corps general’s help with ‘the purchase of new fighting equipment’ and ‘getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations.’
The White House hasn’t denied that Mattis quit as a direct consequence of Trump’s announcement, over his objections, that America’s troops stationed in Syria would be pulling out.
That decision will leave large swaths of Syria unguarded against efforts by Vladimir Putin’s Russia to prop up strongman Bashar al-Assad in his bloody civil war with rebel groups.
Mattis’ written message to Trump didn’t mention the Syria conflict, but its unmistakable flamethrower rhetoric left little doubt.
‘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,’ he wrote.
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