Between Trump, Mattis, Flynn and Ogunlesi
With his three latest appointments of James Mattis, Michael Flynn and Adebayo Ogunlusi, President-elect Donald Trump has shown promising signs of a focused leader, writes Femi Fani-Kayode
General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, the famous ex-Marine and the hero of countless conflicts and wars, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as his Secretary of Defence. What an extraordinary man and colorful figure Mattis is. Here are some of the things he has said over the years.
1. “I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us, because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.”
2. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet. (Time Magazine).
3. “You are part of the world’s most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.” (In a letter Mattis wrote to his Marines the night before the March 2003 Iraq invasion).
4. “I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.” (San Diego Union Tribune).
5. “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys, who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.” (CNN)
6. “Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.” (Letter to First Marine Division)
7. “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.” (San Diego Union Tribune).
Mattis sounds like my type of man: a real warrior with the heart of a Viking. With him as Secretary of Defence, I have no doubt that America, and indeed the world, will be a better and safer place.
Trump has done well by cultivating the courage to nominate him. The President-elect has done equally well by appointing Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor. This is another interesting and colourful character, who appears to understand the monumental challenge that the world is facing today very well.
A well-experienced and extremely tough military intelligence officer, who served courageously and meritoriously in Iraq and Afghaniatan, he is undoubtedly the quintessential “brave heart”.
In his 2016 book titled: “The Field of Fight” he characterised U.S. counter-intelligence as “a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people”. In a speech earlier this year, he called Islam “a cancer” and “a political ideology” that “hides behind this notion of being a religion.” He went on to say that given what is happening in today’s world, “the fear of Muslims is rational”.
Permit me to share his exact words: “We are facing another ‘Ism,’ just like we faced Nazism, fascism, imperialism and communism,” Flynn said. “This is Islamism: it is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people on this planet and it has to be excised.”
For the record, let me be clear, I do not believe that Islam itself is a cancer but I do believe that radical Islam most certainly is. I also disagree with his assertion that Islam is not a religion and I reject the notion that all of the 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today are violent extremists, jihadists and fundamentalists.
I believe that Islam is not only a religion but also a respectable and noble one and that most Muslims are decent, hard-working, God-fearing, law-abiding people. I most certainly do not share the view that ALL Muslims are terrorists.
However this cannot be said of the Islamic fundamentalists, the jihadists, the Islamists and the practitioners of radical Islam. I believe that they are indeed ALL terrorists and that Islamic fundamentalism itself is a dangerous, self-serving, cruel, primitive and vicious cult, which is fuelled and sustained by wahabbi and salifist hate and premised on an unrelenting and barbaric political ideology.
As a matter of fact, it is worse than that. It is not just a political ideology but also a deadly and violent tool of and vehicle for genocide, mass murder, tyranny, subjugation, political conquest and oppression.
It is the greatest evil that humanity has been confronted with since the slave trade, colonialism, fascism, communism, imperialism and neo-colonialism and it must be defeated and utterly crushed lest it consumes us all. The truth is that it is worse than cancer. It is a cultural and political nuclear bomb that is preparing to explode and destroy the entire world.
In spite of his sweeping generalisations and his inability to make a clear distinction between radical Islam and Islam itself, I believe that Flynn will still make an excellent NSA because he understands the nature and mindset of the enemy very well. He is also deeply courageous, utterly fearless and thoroughly forthright. By all standards, he is a man of immense discipline and unimpeachable integrity: a profoundly good man and a loyal and patriotic American.
When one couples this with Trump’s appointment of the rugged and highly combative Mike Pompeio as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, there can be little doubt that Trump is assembling a great team of people that will make American foreign policy far more decisive, dramatic and virile, that will change the face of the world as we know it and that will crush Islamist terrorism and radical Islam in an utterly profound and meaningful way.
That is what the world needs today and that is why I supported him and believed in him right from the outset. At least now the American people can say “merry xmas” again instead of having to say “happy holiday”. At least American soldiers will be allowed to sleep with the Holy Bible under their pillows again. At least Christmas trees will be proudly displayed in shopping malls all over America again.
At least the name of the Lord will be glorified again and the good old fashioned Christian values upon which the United States of America was originally founded will be recognised, acknowledged and established again.
It is indeed “goodbye” to Barack and “hello” to Donald. It is the advent of a new and glorious era for America and indeed the rest of the world. It is a golden era in which the misguided and discredited concept of political correctness and the wholesale acceptance of liberal values, humanist philosophies and strange pagan practices, all in an attempt to establish a new world order, is rejected.
That is the hope that this new dispensation brings: to lift up America and once again make her the shining light on a hill that will provide the direction and decisive leadership that the world so badly needs.
I am also excited by Trump’s appointment of the African American, Dr. Ben Carson, a man who, like the biblical Daniel, is blessed with an excellent spirit, as his Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Development.
Finally, it gives me great pleasure to note the fact that my old friend, Adebayo Ogunlesi has been appointed a member of Trump’s economic advisory team. Where are those that said Trump hates people of colour and that he loathes Nigerians? Congratulations Bayo and keep the flag flying!