Gen. Mattis Calls on Biden to End 'America First' Policies: It Means 'America Alone'
By: Rudy Takala (MSN)
And so it begins............I guess Mr. Biden needs to get out Mr. Obama's notes on apology tours.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gen. Mattis Calls on Biden to End 'America First' Policies: It Means 'America Alone'© Provided by Mediaite James Mattis Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Former Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis is calling on President-elect Joe Biden to kill "America first" policies.
"To achieve defense in depth, simply strengthening the U.S. military is not enough; nor the even more urgent task of strengthening U.S. diplomacy and other civilian elements of national power," Mattis wrote in a Monday op-ed in Foreign Affairs. "Enhancing national security must start with the fundamental truth that the United States cannot protect itself or its interests without the help of others."
He also wrote that the U.S. under President Donald Trump had undermined the "foundations" of "international order" as a result of "basic ignorance" of international affairs. "In practice, 'America first' has meant 'America alone,'" Mattis added. "That has damaged the country's ability to address problems before they reach U.S. territory and has thus compounded the danger emergent threats pose."
Mattis served as Trump's first secretary of defense, beginning in 2017 and ending with his resignation in February 2019. His tenure was marred by disagreement with the president on a range of issues, including U.S. participation in NATO as well as the president's desire to take more a more aggressive stance toward Iran and Syria.
The conflict between Trump and Mattis escalated to such a degree, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward revealed in September, that Mattis once even contemplated taking "collective action" against the president during tensions with North Korea, allegedly telling then-National Intelligence Director Dan Coats he believed Trump was "dangerous" and "unfit" for office.
In Monday's op-ed — which also featured bylines from two staffers at the Hoover Institution, along with one from the American Enterpriser Institute — Mattis called on Biden to transform America first policies into something more "cooperative."
"In January, when President Joe Biden and his national security team begin to reevaluate U.S. foreign policy, we hope they will quickly revise the national security strategy to eliminate 'America first' from its contents, restoring in its place the commitment to cooperative security that has served the United States so well for decades," Mattis wrote. "The best strategy for ensuring safety and prosperity is to buttress American military strength with enhanced civilian tools and a restored network of solid alliances — both necessary to achieving defense in depth. The pandemic should serve as a reminder of what grief ensues when we wait for problems to come to us."
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And so it begins.....................SMH
The elites and establishment of both parties gotta have their little wars.
Mattis is another globalist eager for our "allies" tail back to wagging the US dog.
That stupidity worked out so well with nation building in Afghanistan; destabilizing Libya to get their oil for France and Britain; backing a coup in Ukraine that only represents a minority of their population; and France and the UK dropping their obligations to take over in Syria- by running out days before the US forces were to withdraw.
With "allies" like those we don't need enemies.
Yeah but here's the funny thing to me: Wasn't Obama apologizing for the US military presence in all corners of the world? Trump ran on the promise to bring our troops home, and refrain from starting new foreign wars. He has spent the last four years trying to do exactly that. You'd think Democrats would stand up and cheer.
It sounds a lot like people want Biden to deploy more troops around the world. Am I on Opposite Earth?
I will give trmp credit for not starting any new wars and for trying to bring the troops home.
No, I don't want any more troops deployed around the world
Good luck on that with Biden in office.
He hasn't even taken office yet. Gawd! You are such a Gloomy Gus!
Listen to Biden talking about Syria- shades of Hillary Clinton.
I gave Obama a chance- and he turned out to be Bush on steroids when it came to starting new military adventures and extra judicial drone killings. Biden has said nothing to convince me he won't build on Obama's legacy.
meh
8 “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited. 9 Then the host who invited both of you will come and tell you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ And in humiliation, you will have to take the last place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 14:8-11
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." - Matthew 20:16
I find it pretty funny that it seems to be mostly the religious conservatives who are demanding they be first for everything and whining and gnashing their teeth when anyone suggests that we as a nation act with humility and cooperation with our global partners.
You mean "global partners" like Russia and China?
Humility?? Obama did that, and it didn't work.
Those are the nations dirty Donald bowed to. I mean our allies in Europe, Canada, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, NATO, the Netherlands and all the other global allies who whiny little Donald shat on during his term while he snuggled up to North Korea, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
It only "didn't work" for fat headed bigots who believe in some white Christian America superiority which formed the wave Trump rode into power on.
The United States is not the only country on Planet Earth. And foreign relations have been strained. While I don't want to see a world apology tour, I do think Biden should get out there and let Planet Earth know this is a new administration and that his ears are open.
It's sad that the sacrifice that many of our allies have given on our behalf doesn't seem to register. When 9/11 happened, the War on Terrorism dozens and dozens of countries sent troops and support personal to aid us. There are still allied troops in Afghanistan. In the invasion of Iraq in 1990 dozens and dozens of countries sent troops.
In Korea, many nations were there fighting side by side with us. In a war that I'm much more familiar with, Vietnam, 5,000 South Korean troops died fighting in support of American troops, and 100,000 were wounded. Troops from Thailand, NZ, Australia, and the Philippines were there as well.
So, whine if you will but reality has a much different view on allies and their sacrifices.
When numerous planed were diverted to Canada on 9/11, the citizens and leaders took the passengers in. They housed and fed them, treating them like extended family. There was very little press because Canada didn't do it for pats on the back. They did it out of compassion.
These things aren't black or white, zero sum, pick your metaphor. You can reduce military intervention overseas without being full-on isolationist. I remember when liberals opposed foreign military action. Now they can't get enough.
It seems to me that going back to the 90s now, Democrats have abandoned their love of peace and their concern for the lives of our troops. When Democrats are in power, there is no place they won't send our troops. From Kosovo to Syria. The only time they object is when a Republican president is doing the deploying.
They were more than happy to condemn Bush for the fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq. They attacked him again for the surge. Obama promises to pull them out and they cheer. But if Trump wants to pull out troops, then we're abandoning our allies, breaking our word, and so on and so forth. Jimmy Carter got Egypt to recognize Israel. For that, he got the Nobel Peace Prize. The Trump administration gets three other countries to do the same thing and we hear crickets.
It's all partisan nonsense. There is no foreign policy there. It's just blind opposition.
Some fools think Iraq and Afghanistan are our allies
who would be those fools, Greg? I remember all the conservatives were whipped into a frenzy over going to Iraq. They couldn't wait for the bombs to drop.
All the conservatives?
Try again; I always argued for continuing Clinton's no fly zone and containment/embargo- rather than invasion.
I also argued against Obama sending troops back into Iraq- as the government there is loyal to Iran.
We have been stuck on stupid for a very long time in our foreign policy. When Democrats argued against Trump trying to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan I knew the world order had taken over both parties.
Yes...all the NeoCons like Cheney and Co.
And many of them Democrats now....
Max Boot, David Frum, Jenifer Rubin etc...
source?
Who had no place in the GOP with Trump and several have supported Biden.
Almost every Democrat I know, myself included, fully supported going into Afghanistan to destroy Al Qaeda and the Taliban following 9/11. We never condemned Bush for fighting in Afghanistan, and never will. To quote my Democrat mother, then almost 80, discussing the opinion of she and all of her friends, Democrats and Republicans alike, just days after 9/11: "We can't wait for the bombs to start falling". That was my fervent desire, also. Every Democrat and Republican in Congress, save one as I recall, were of the same opinion and voted accordingly. Maybe you are too young to remember, but I have never seen the country more united in my life.
I was all for Afghanistan to get bin Laden. But I never supported going into Iraq. It was a wrong move and everybody that voted for it (including Hillary and Joe) should be ashamed that they voted for it and should probably explain why they voted to go to war in Iraq
The only problem is we didn't go into Afghanistan to get Bin Laden- we went there to nation build thanks to our so called "allies" in NATO; that dragged a very weak Bush Jr to the UN Security Council and tied the US to nation building after nation building resolution.
We never needed NATO and allies to do what always should have been a search and destroy mission against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.