Insta
Trump Picks Retired General James “Mad Dog” Mattis For Defense Secretary
Swarajya Staff
Dec 02, 2016, 10:55 AM | Updated 10:55 AM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine General James N. Mattis to be his Secretary of Defense. The US President-elect announced his choice at a rally on Thursday, but the official announcement is expected to be on Monday.
Trump picked the former senior military officer who had said that responding to "political Islam" was "the major security issue facing the US". "We are going to appoint 'Mad Dog' Mattis as our secretary of defense," Trump told in a rally in Cincinnati, his first stop after the November 8 election, also his "thank-you tour".
Trump joked that the media and audience should keep the news to themselves. "We are going to be announcing him Monday of next week," Trump said. "Keep it inside the room". Mattis, who retired as chief of the US Central Command in 2013, has often said that Washington lacks an overall strategy in the Middle East, opting to instead handle issues in an ineffective one-by-one manner.
"Is political Islam in the best interest of the US?" Mattis said at the Heritage Foundation in 2015, speaking about the separate challenges of the Islamic State (IS) and Iranian-backed terrorism. "I suggest the answer is no, but we need to have the discussion. If we won't even ask the question, how do we even recognise which is our side in a fight?" he had said.
To take the job, Mattis will need Congress to pass legislation to bypass a federal law stating that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. Congress had granted a similar exception just once, when General George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950.
With inputs from IANS.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Introducing ElectionsHQ + 50 Ground Reports Project
The 2024 elections might seem easy to guess, but there are some important questions that shouldn't be missed.
Do freebies still sway voters? Do people prioritise infrastructure when voting? How will Punjab vote?
The answers to these questions provide great insights into where we, as a country, are headed in the years to come.
Swarajya is starting a project with an aim to do 50 solid ground stories and a smart commentary service on WhatsApp, a one-of-a-kind. We'd love your support during this election season.
Click below to contribute.