# "Off the record" vs. "privileged platform"



## bossi (4 Feb 2005)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61955-2005Feb3?language=printer

Hagee called him "one of this country's bravest and most experienced military leaders."

He said the commitment of Marines "helps to provide us the fortitude to take the lives of those who oppress others or threaten this nation's security. This is not something we relish, yet we accept it as a reality in our profession of arms."

Hagee said he was confident Mattis would continue to serve with distinction.

Mattis' comments were reported by the television station KNSD in San Diego, and the audio recording was posted on its Web site www.nbcsandiego.com .

As a lieutenant colonel, Mattis led an assault battalion into Kuwait during the first war with Iraq. During the war in Afghanistan, he commanded the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and subsequently Task Force 58, which fought in southern Afghanistan as the Taliban fell.

During the second war in Iraq, he commanded the 1st Marine Division during the invasion and also when the unit returned to Iraq for counterinsurgency operations last year.

In a letter to his troops before they redeployed to Iraq last March, Mattis warned them of "hard, dangerous work."

"The enemy will try to manipulate you into hating all Iraqis," he wrote. "Do not allow the enemy that victory. With strong discipline, solid faith, unwavering alertness, and undiminished chivalry to the innocent, we will carry out this mission."

He is not the first senior military officer since the Sept. 11 attacks to stir controversy with his comments.

Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a senior military intelligence officer, was criticized for speeches he made at evangelical Christian churches. He said that America's enemy was Satan, that God had put President Bush in the White House and that one Muslim Somali warlord was an idol-worshipper.

Boykin later issued a written statement apologizing and saying he did not mean to insult Islam.

A Pentagon investigation concluded that Boykin violated regulations by failing to make clear he was not speaking in an official capacity in the speeches beginning in January 2002.


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## dirtnco (4 Feb 2005)

I really fail to see what the man said that was so bad. His men are over seas to do a job and taking lives is part of it. Some time people have to sit back and look at the world we live in and some of the" individuals" that think they belong here. Well Done to the General and his men.


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## muskrat89 (4 Feb 2005)

As a lowly TSM, I am sure that I said many things to my soldiers, often utilizing "dark humour" to motivate, calm, etc. If those words were taken out of the context of the moment, I'm sure they would seem terrible.

What he said doesn't bother me - he did deserve to get his peepee slapped for not remembering there was press (or whomever) around....


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