Bring in forward thinking SecDef

I like General Mattis.  He has that long list of Mattisisms that continues to grow as people add the things they wish Mattis had said or things that fit their political agenda. 

My particular favorite is when he was newly minted as SecDef and was asked what keeps him up at night.  He replies dead eyed, “Nothing.  I keep other people up at night.”    

Mattis is a true warrior.  Ask the reinforced Russian infantry company he wiped out in Syria.  Mattis asked the Russians if they were F-ing with us.  When the Russians denied it, he literally ordered the Russian company wiped out. The Russians couldn’t protest, because after all, they denied that they were F-ing with us.  They haven’t F-ed with us since. 

Now, he’s out a SecDef.  The MSM and #NEVERTRUMPers are in a typical hysteria over the news.  I’m old enough to remember when they were in a hysteria over his appointment along with Gens Flynn, Kelly, McMasters et al and the Trump haters fretted over too much military influence in the White House.  Now Flynn, Kelly, McMasters and Mattis are out, and the exact same D-bags are fretting about their exits. Proof positive they will oppose whatever PDJT does.

Except for McMasters, I’m a bit disappointed to see them leave as well.  That said, no one stays at the White House forever.  We are a nation of 350 million people.  There are probably at least a couple of handfuls people qualified to be SecDef. I’m hopeful that PDJT will chose a highly qualified advanced thinker that will move the DefDep ahead.  Here are my three prerequisites:

One, the candidate must adhere to Lieber’s Code: The more vigorously wars are pursued the better it is for humanity.  Sharp wars are brief.

We do not commit forces until we know what victory looks like and then we pursue victory with all necessary and reasonable force.

We tend to commit forces with no idea of what victory looks like. When that’s the case, we are incapable of pursuing victory because, well…no one knows what it looks like.  That’s the entire Middle East.  So we’re trapped in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. because we don’t know what we are pursuing, but we are afraid of what will happen if we leave. So guess what?  We stay until…when?

I’m all for staying and killing the enemy by the bushel basket.  That’s not what’s happening.  We’re there in large part as nothing more than targets.  Corrupt Afghan officials and military members seem to be as much hindrance as help.  F-em.  Let em kill each other.   

My thinking is to subcontract the entire Middle East sh*thole out to Blackwater.  Cover them with massive air support.  Leave a note with Blackwater:  Kill ’em if they need killing. Leave a note with Afghan leaders, if we have to come back, you’re a dead man. Turn out the lights, no wait, blow out the candle and see what happens.  Could it be worse?

The alternative, it seems to me is stay there for the next 2,000 years.  These people have been trapped in the 12^th century since the 12^th century.  It’s unlikely that they will embrace modernity in the next year or 10 or 100.

Two, the SecDef needs to announce that the DefDep is NOT a social science experimental petri dish.  All policies and acquisitions will be guided by a simple test: Does the policy or acquisition increase the lethality of American forces on the battlefield?

Three, the candidate must be a visionary who is capable of taking the American military into the next generation of military equipment, training, tactics and techniques.

Let me put a name out there, Carly Fiorina. 

Bravo PDJT - Shut it down.  Leave Caligula, D.C. Peloser looks like a loser. Mitch - go nuclear.