Syria move fallout: Mattis resigns
Outgoing defence secretary to Trump: ‘You deserve someone whose views are better aligned with yours’
WASHINGTON: US defence secretary James Mattis resigned on Thursday, a day after the Donald Trump administration abruptly announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.
Mattis told the US president in a resignation letter that he deserved someone at the Pentagon “whose views are better aligned with yours”.
Mattis, like many other Trump aides and advisers, had opposed the pull-out from Syria and tried one last time to persuade the US president to reverse his decision at a meeting at the White House on Thursday afternoon.
But he failed to persuade Trump to reverse his decision as the latter dug in and was punching back even at close allies who opposed his move.
Trump announced Mattis’ departure in a tweet. “General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defence for the past two years,” he tweeted, adding that Mattis will leave in February.
Trump went on to describe some of Mattis’ contributions. He also tried to portray his departure as retirement, even though it’s clearly not the case. Mattis, a four-star Marine corps general, retired from government service a long time ago.
The Pentagon set the record straight by releasing Mattis’ resignation letter. “One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships,” Mattis wrote. “Because you have the right to have a secretary of defence whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.”
The two men had differed on an entire range of issues. Earlier, when they were on good terms, Mattis would simply slow-deal issues that he did not agree with. That was the time when they used to meet frequently, sometimes over dinner at the White House.
Things could only go south, and they did. Mattis found himself pushed to the sidelines and speculation started about his impending exit once Trump famously called Mattis a “Demo- crat”.
Turnover in the Trump administration has been high record-breaking, in fact. Brookings, a leading US think-tank, said in an October analysis, “President Trump is breaking records.”
“Ten (or 83%) of the most senior-ranking White House advisers have departed, sparking a cascade of turnover in the junior ranks as well,” the analysis said.
At this stage of the presidency, two years down, President Ronald Reagan (1981 to 1989) had a 59% turnover; George HW Bush (1989-1993) 17%; Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 58%; George W Bush (2001-2009) 17%, and Barack Obama (2009-2016) 41%.