Rather than take a principled stand before an international audience, Mattis stayed silent
The Duty to Speak
America needs more vocal military leaders like Smedley Butler to drown out the silence of people like former defense secretary James Mattis.
https://www.thenation.com/article/trump-mattis-military-dissent
Were he alive today, Smedley Butler would have strong words for James Mattis and other veteran military leaders who’ve remained silent about Trump. After retiring from the US Marine Corps as its top general in 1931, Butler, one of history’s most revered Marines, wrote the book War Is a Racket and became a vocal and consistent critic of war, interventionism, and other domestic threats he perceived.
Our generation has had, aside from a few tweets and the occasional op-ed, mostly silence from former military officials. We don’t have truth-tellers, like Butler, who consistently speak out, soberly helping their fellow citizens understand the clear dangers posed by reckless militarism, and creating the sense of urgency we should all feel. We so desperately need leaders like Butler now.
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Rather than take a principled stand before an international audience, Mattis stayed silent about the far-reaching and long-lasting consequences of Trump’s most recent impulse in Syria.
Silent about the abrupt, senseless betrayal of our Kurdish allies.
Silent on his former boss’s inept acquiescence to a Turkish military invasion.
Silent about the escape of hundreds of ISIS prisoners.
Silent on the shelling of US troops by a NATO partner during an embarrassing retreat.
Silent about America’s eroding global influence and tarnished credibility.
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A problem with the so-called “duty of ” quiet hat Trump’s former defense secretary says guides his civilian conduct is his selective silence. Despite disclaiming “political assessments,” Mattis has felt perfectly comfortable criticizing certain politicians. In the same Meet the Press interview this month, he slammed President Obama for fulfilling a planned Iraq withdrawal. Yet when Mattis said, “We may want a war over, we may even declare it over,” he failed to cite Trump by name or Trump’s many false declarations that ISIS in Syria had been defeated.
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The problem is, Mattis isn’t in the military and hasn’t been since his 2013 retirement from the Marines. Even as he assumed the top leadership position tasked with overseeing America’s armed forces, he did so as a civilian—as the position requires.
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Now more than ever, our constitutional republic needs leaders, including veterans like Allen, McCaffrey, and McRaven, to speak up—consistently—and drown out the silence of people like James Mattis.
Our country’s future is at stake
