Trump's frontrunners for Pentagon job likely to share Mattis' views on Syria, Afghanistan

Fox News ^ | December 21, 2018 | Lukas Mikelionis

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Why not Colonel Allen West?"

You really think Col West is for pulling back from Syria and Afghanistan? I tried to google and could find no statement from him concerning this Syrian pullout but judging from him past statements he would not be in favor of this.

All of you supporters of this decision, please name a high profile/high ranking military official capable of doing the job of Secretary of Defense that is in favor of this Syrian pullout? I'd really like to know someone who is. I've read people say Mike Flynn, but thats just your supposition. I've not read one credible military expert that is for this. Except here on free republic, there are a lot of 'experts' that are for this.

[Jarhead9297]

That I can agree with. That’s fair

[Mr. Jeeves]

Find a Lt. Colonel hated by his superiors. That will be the right guy. :)

[Jarhead9297]

Defend our own real estate? From who? Who is invading? And don’t tell me our southern border. It’s fantasy to think 20,000 or 2000 troops will be piled up along the southern border. It’s not going to happen

[Jarhead9297]

Semper Fi FRiend!

[Alberta's Child]

Seriously, dude?

The "War on Terror" (whatever the hell that means) officially ended when the Bush administration allowed Iraq to adopt a new consitution with a provision that established Islam as the official state religion.

No offense, but anyone who took this "War on Terror" nonsense seriously after that is really delusional.

[Alberta's Child]

I think Trump should nominate Ralph Peters for the job.

[That's a joke, people.]

[Jarhead9297]

I may not agree with your position but respect what you’ve said. It makes sense and good morning

[familyop]

"Define the 'job'. Define what makes it 'complete'."

Yeah. Uncle Putin, Uncle Xi and the mullahs want to know.

That definition is obvious to anyone who was an adult in the '70s and who cared enough to get educated about each of the nations involved. Here are our choices. We either contain the new axis or prepare to be nuked on our own soil before long.

Some minds consider consequences. Other minds refuse to consider consequences. Anyone educated in criminology or psychology knows about the latter. That's our problem in politics here, at home.

[Rusty0604]

What would winning look like in your opinion? Like Libya? Afghanistan? Just bomb the he!! When need be, and quit trying to install democracy, because democracy over there means Islamic State and death for Christians.

[kabar]

We have 15,000 troops in Kuwait and 5,000 in Iraq. There is no need to have troops in Syria. Those advocating our presence in Syria still harbor the hope of taking out Assad. Congress never authorized our presence in Syria, a sovereign country that objects to us being there.

We need to define our objectives and have an exit strategy. Keeping our forces in Syria raises the risk of a conflict with Russia and exposes our troops to unnecessary dangers. Taking out Assad should not be an objective, especially given our lack of knowledge about the opposition. We should not get involved in a civil war.

[buckalfa]

"No more swamp clowns. All their we are super smart and have super smart deep."

You are correct in wanting no more "swamp". Yet after almost 40 years of intervention being the norm of US foreign and military policy, it will be difficult to find anyone with the qualifications who has not been steeped in Neocon thought.

[Rusty0604]

Exactly.

[Jarhead9297]

Now that right there is funny

[central_va]

honorable man more so than ANY person in Washington.

That's funny right there.

[Dahoser]

I haven't said a word either way on the matter. I'm just putting forth a candidate for SecDef who might differ from the current crop of contenders. His Twitter feed says nothing, but he will be on the Mark Davis show later this morning and you would think they'd discuss it at some point, if not first thing.

[shelterguy]

It is unpossible to win.

[McGruff]

Somehow I don’t see Trump knuckling under to someone he hires.

[Alberta's Child]

I don’t know why everyone is assuming the next Secretary of Defense will be a military person. Mattis is actually a rare breed in that post.

[Rusty0604]

Sounds similar to our drug problem with our southern border. Securing our own border is one war I’d like to win.