book review: Call Sign Chaos by Jim 'Mad Dog' Mattis (Iraq, enemy)

[travis t]

James Mattis was Secretary of Defense under Donald Trump. Before that he was a general in the US Marines. He led the initial push both into Afghanistan and Iraq.

I looked forward to this book, since he has a reputation for being an avid student of history. He does not disappoint in that regard, with quotes from Xenophon to Napoleon. I also figured that the book would be another piece to the puzzle that is the Trump admin. When it first came out, much of the commentary linked the book to Trump. It turns out that Trump is mentioned only in the prologue, where Mattis says: "I'm old-fashioned: I don't write about sitting presidents." The commentary was wrong.

Mattis has a gentle way of critiquing admins. He uses the euphemism 'policy makers' rather than naming names. But he lays out the evidence from the perspective of a military man, and lets it speak for itself, which it does loudly. Neither Democrat nor GOP admins are spared.

A notable thread woven throughout the entire book is his belief in decentralization of decision-making. A lot of the book is on his ideas about leadership. The sub-title is 'Learning to Lead.'

By decentralizing authority...we maneuvered faster than the enemy, getting inside his decision-making loop. (p.46)

I wanted my staff at the top to do only what we alone could do, delegating as much authority as possible to proven Marine and Navy commanders below me. (p. 59)

Another thread is his belief in the American system of civilian control of the military. You can read this book and never quite know what his politics are. A third thread is his emphasis on the importance of having foreign allies. The final section of the final chapter is headed "The Need for Allies:"

Nations with allies thrive, and those without wither. Alone, American cannot provide protection for our people and our economy.

If you read this along with Duty by Robert Gates (included on Mattis's recommended reading list) you will get a basic education on US military activities of the 21st century. It is sometimes forgotten that we have been deeply on a war-footing for almost two decades now. You won't forget that if you read this book.

[travis t]

Mattis covers several interesting incidents of 'fake news' in the book. He was leader in the battle for Fallujah, which he covers in some detail. He writes:

…inside enemy lines, there were Al Jazeera reporters and local stringers...picked up by news bureaus around the globe. The vast majority of news organizations did not have reporters on the ground, so the enemy's propaganda dominated...

Because of fake news regarding attacks on mosques by US troops, Ambassador Bremer ordered a halt to the Fallujah operation. "We had lost the information war," writes Mattis.

In another case he writes about a 'wedding party' attack that I vaguely recalled reading in the news back then:

When reporters asked for my response, I replied, "We'd tracked these guys when they crossed the Syrian border and caught them sixty-five miles from the nearest town. More than two dozen military-age males just happened to pick a campsite with no women? That's a heck of a wedding party."

[Clarallel]

Nice review.

Thanks.

[TimAZ]

Originally Posted by travis t

If you read this along with Duty by Robert Gates (included on Mattis's recommended reading list) you will get a basic education on US military activities of the 21st century. It is sometimes forgotten that we have been deeply on a war-footing for almost two decades now. You won't forget that if you read this book.

As a nation we are well served by officers like Mattis when they perform their duty leading troops. We are ill-served when they take off the uniform and enter the sordid world of cabinet secretaries, DC lobbyists and they are forced to become political “allies”. This conflicted mess dates back to the Civil War and has affected all Presidents since Lincoln. Eisenhower warned us about the growing influence of the MIC, and Carter actually tried to do something about it in his budgets.

Here we are sixty years later in a state of undeclared, forever war, and even the President himself is powerless to change the entrenched bureaucracies he supposedly controls. I’ve said it many times here, IMO were in a post-Constitutional era that is trending to tyranny. Mattis, the good soldier, can’t hide the fact that he helped enable the slide.

[travis t]

One other thing I wish to mention from the book is highly relevant to current news about Syria.

As stated previously, Mattis tends to not name names when presenting material critical of 'policy makers,' i.e. electeds in Washington DC. One exception has to do with withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011.

In summer 2010, Mattis met with VP Joe Biden about troop withdrawal. Mattis supported Gen Odierno's plan of leaving about 18,000 troops in place.

Vice President Biden and his assistants listened politely. But as we spoke, I sensed I was making no headway...He didn't want to hear more; he wanted our forces out of Iraq.(p. 208)

Of course the troops were pulled out in Dec. 2011.

...allowing the terrorist to return like a barbarian horde, exactly as the CIA had predicted. In the summer of 2014, the medieval scourge called ISIS rose like a phenix and swept across western Iraq...All of this was predicted--and preventable. (p. 210)

Both Robert Gates and Leon Panetta say similar in their memoirs about the Iraq withdrawal of 2011. Mattis says that Hillary Clinton also opposed the precipitous withdrawal, but to no avail.

[TimAZ]

Originally Posted by travis t

One other thing I wish to mention from the book is highly relevant to current news about Syria.

As stated previously, Mattis tends to not name names when presenting material critical of 'policy makers,' i.e. electeds in Washington DC. One exception has to do with withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011.

In summer 2010, Mattis met with VP Joe Biden about troop withdrawal. Mattis supported Gen Odierno's plan of leaving about 18,000 troops in place.

Of course the troops were pulled out in Dec. 2011.



Both Robert Gates and Leon Panetta say similar in their memoirs about the Iraq withdrawal of 2011. Mattis says that Hillary Clinton also opposed the precipitous withdrawal, but to no avail.

Are you suggesting that we keep a permanent occupation force in the ME? What size? A division, a corps? Hell, why not stage an entire expeditionary force, air, land, sea, just in case?

At some point this madness has to end.

[travis t]

Originally Posted by TimAZ

Are you suggesting that we keep a permanent occupation force in the ME? What size? A division, a corps? Hell, why not stage an entire expeditionary force, air, land, sea, just in case?

At some point this madness has to end.

Sure, I can see your point and am sympathetic to it. But the way the 2011 withdrawal was handled was atrocious. Again, Mattis, Gates, and Panetta all say similar things in their memoirs. They were overruled by Obama and Biden.

I say the same thing about the current situation with Trump. What I see is that D & R partisans align according to whether the prez is a D or R rather than according to the reality.

No one has the perfect answer for the ME, but setting the stage for ISIS was a debacle. Trump at least has time to re-orient and fix the mess he has created.

[travis t]

I also meant to mention that Mattis explains the 'chaos' moniker. It's a kind of funny acronym that was pinned on him by a Marine from Brooklyn, when Mattis was Colonel. The C stands for 'colonel,' and you have to read the book to get the rest.

He does not use the moniker 'Mad Dog' anywhere in the book except in an appendix where he reprints an article, where another writer uses it. He does give several examples of his outspoken nature which presumably got him the nickname 'Mad Dog.' He says when he became Centcom commander, both Sec. Gates and Pres. Obama made a point to ask him to use discretion in his words. He said he got the message.