Mattis got passed over for Commandant of the Marines when Gates picked a flyboy. He is famous for his "I love to kill Afghans" remark.
Our Grant and Sherman -- By: Victor Davis Hanson
By webmaster@nationalreview.com (Victor Davis Hanson)
Some of us had hoped three weeks ago that a leader like General Mattis might become Centcom commander. The recent announcement that Secretary Gates, wisely, has just done that could not come at a better time. Mattis is a proven battlefield commander, a sophisticated student of history, and unshakeable in his nerve and purpose.
We now have, with General Petraeus as ground commander, our two most gifted senior combat generals in charge of Afghanistan, who have worked well together and who were brilliant in Iraq in its darkest hours. I think all this is somewhat analogous to the final rise of Grant and Sherman in spring 1864 -- or Ridgway in the last days of 1950, or the arrival of Abrams in Vietnam in latter 1968 -- and increases our chances for success, despite the pervading pessimism of the hour that Afghanistan is lost. Secretary Gates should be congratulated for the appointment.
Now, if the diplomatic confusion can be sorted out, and responsibilities unified into one office that deals in a more sophisticated fashion with the Karzai government and is more attuned to our two generals, we can recover. All of which raises the question: Why not, as a trifecta, bring back the gallant and gifted Ryan Crocker, who proved to be the most talented American diplomat, in the most harrowing of conditions, of the last two decades? |
