Mattis breaks down devastating way Obama botched handling Iraq

While the mainstream media was waiting with eager arms for former Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ memoir “Call Sign Chaos – Learning to Lead,” the book likely did not turn out the way they hoped.

Looking for any and all reasons to attack President Donald Trump, many were hoping the book would be filled with Mattis using his blunt style to criticize the president based on his time in the White House. Mattis is above such petty politics.

(Screenshot from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”)

He does, however, have some harsh words for former President Barack Obama and his administration’s foreign policy, according to the Washington Examiner.

One Democrat presidential candidate who is likely to be sweating about Mattis’ assessment of the former administration’s handling of foreign policy is Joe Biden. The former vice president is trying to sell himself as a return to the glory of the Obama years. Mattis, in his typical straight-forward style, says there wasn’t much glory to that administration in their handling of the Iraq War. He particularly criticized the administration for ignoring his warnings about the disastrous results of a mass withdrawal from Iraq.

“I found him an admirable and amiable man,” Mattis said of Biden. “But he was past the point where he was willing to entertain a ‘good idea.’ He didn’t want to hear more; he wanted our forces out of Iraq. Whatever path led there fastest, he favored.”

Mattis continued, “He exuded the confidence of a man whose mind was made up, perhaps even indifferent to considering the consequences, were he judging the situation incorrectly.”

Despite being promised that all forces would not be leaving Iraq, Mattis found himself deeply disappointed when Obama announced that all troops would be exiting the Middle Eastern country.

“In October 2011, Prime Minister Maliki and President Obama agreed that all U.S. forces would leave at the end of the year,” he wrote.

“Iraq slipped back into escalating violence. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion,” Mattis wrote about the consequences of the announcement and the decision.


Source: Fox News

When talking specifically about Obama, Mattis says the former president holds a lot of personal responsibility for the tragedies that occurred in Iraq following his announcement.

“It was to be a time when I would witness duty and deceit, courage and cowardice, and, ultimately, strategic frustration,” Mattis said of his time commanding CENTCOM, overseeing military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia before the former president fired him.

“Iraq slipped back into escalating violence. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion,” Mattis said. “All of this was predicted — and preventable.”

The general believes the former administration did not take advice from military leaders seriously enough when making a foreign policy decision.

“At the top, then as now, there was an aura of omniscience. The assessments of the intelligence community, our diplomats, and our military had been excluded from the decision-making circle,” he wrote.

Mattis also had some harsh words about his firing during the Obama administration.

“In December 2012, I received an unauthorized phone call telling me that in an hour, the Pentagon would be announcing my relief,” he wrote. “I was leaving a region aflame and in disarray. The lack of an integrated regional strategy had left us adrift, and our friends confused. We were offering no leadership or direction. I left my post deeply disturbed that we had shaken our friends’ confidence and created vacuums that our adversaries would exploit.”

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air argues that Mattis’ critiques of the Obama administration will greatly hurt Biden in the presidential race.

“Obama’s history, but Biden is presently arguing to be the future. This assessment from Mattis makes that argument a lot more complicated, especially since foreign policy and national-security strategy is supposed to be Biden’s strong point,” said Morrissey, according to the Examiner.

He added, “Mattis is now the second former Secretary of Defense to allege that Biden’s the emperor with no clothes on when it comes to his supposed specialty (foreign policy).”

Mattis also blasted Obama for his shady negotiations with Iran. You can read about that at the link below.

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