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Jim Mattis responds to Rand Paul criticism over his role in America's 'endless' wars
Published September 04, 2019
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis responded to Sen. Rand Paul's, R-Ky., criticism of his military combat strategy on "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Wednesday, and claimed he's never supported perpetual war in the Middle East.
Paul cited Mattis in December 2018 while discussing America's role in the Middle East and said, "We should look at some of the statements of the people who are advocating that we stay in Afghanistan forever... Even Gen. Mattis said that there's no military solution... So I think the burden is really on Mattis and others who want perpetual war, to explain why if there is no military solution -- we're sending more troops."
Mattis, who appeared on the show to promote his new book "Call Sign Chaos," said Paul's statements were false and blamed other outside influences for America's failure to successfully withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan.
"The idea that any seasoned officer wants endless war is contradicted. I think you'll find the people most reluctant to go into a war are seasoned officers," Mattis replied.
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"We were in a war...it was to make certain that we destroyed the ISIS caliphate and it was to drive the Syrian Civil War into a U.N. brokered peace in Geneva," he said. "Russia's regrettable veto marginalized the U.N process, but we did have a solution there."
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He also said the plan going forward in Afghanistan should be to focus on tactical training for the Afghans and be vigilant about how quickly troops are extricated from the region, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
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"On Afghanistan, we want to continue to teach the Afghans how to defend their own country," Mattis said. "And you don't pull all the troops out in one fell swoop and repeat exactly what we did in Iraq.
"We may not like globalization, that's not a policy, that's a reality we have to deal with. And terrorism is an ambient threat that's going to be with us for the indefinite future."
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