Other than those who are upset by his
blunt language, most observers and pundits think that the choice of Jim Mattis
to replace David Petraeus as commander, central command, was
nothing short of inspired. Mattis, widely known for his blunt talk -- and for that
very reason reviled by the left -- was actually on the way out when the CENTCOM
job opened up. Ray Odierno had been nominated to replace Mattis as commander of
the joint forces command, and the job of commandant of the Marine Corps, which
was rumored to have been promised to Mattis, had gone to Jim Amos. There was,
it seemed nothing left for the hero of Fallujah to do, but to retire.
Then came the McChrystal interview, and
the events that led to Petraeus's transfer to Afghanistan. Although many
observers hoped Mattis would take over CENTCOM, it was far from a sure thing.
The man who had said it was "fun to shoot Afghans" and coined enough phrases
so that they are now called Mattisisms might not have been a good fit for
an administration that had already been criticized by its faithful for
providing yet another pedestal for General "betray us."
But Mattis brings a lot more to the
table than being a Marine's Marine -- which should be enough for most people
anyway. He refuses to take any concept or doctrine at face value, without
analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. And he acts on his conclusions. A good
example was the memorandum he sent to his staff at the joint forces command
shortly after he arrived in Norfolk. "Effects based operations," the
notion that one might calculate enemy responses to calibrated attacks, was all
the rage in military circles. Mattis informed his staff that he did not
like the phrase, or the concept it represented, and ordered that it be dropped
from the JFCOM vocabulary. In other words, buzz words, and the ideas behind
them, are simply not in this warfighter's vocabulary.
Mattis, as a senior four-star, is one
of the few military men to have the gravitas to face off against Petraeus if he
deems it necessary to do so. That may not be required: Petraeus reportedly
pushed for Mattis to get the job, and both men understand the nature of combat
against irregular forces like few other senior American officers. Still, Mattis
and Petraeus will generate a degree of creative tension that can only benefit
American objectives in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration shot itself in
the foot when it announced that it would begin to withdraw troops from
Afghanistan a year from now. Having Petraeus and Mattis in charge of Afghan
operations, supported by talented three stars like Bill Caldwell, who oversees
the training of Afghan forces, at least takes the sting out of that
announcement, and underscores the notion that Washington remains serious about
defeating the Taliban. Equally important, having the "A-Team" of military
leaders in charge of the Afghan mission begs the question of whether any
withdrawal of forces will take place, if Petraeus and Mattis recommend against
it. We shall see.
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