James Mattis

Demonstrate to the world there is “No Better Friend — No Worse Enemy” than a US Marine.

General James N. Mattis is a United States Marine Corps officer currently serving (since 2010) as the Commander of the US Central Command (USCENTCOM). From 2007 until 2010 he commanded the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and was the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) for NATO.

Sourced

• 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.
  • Panel discussion in San Diego, California (1 February 2005) as quoted in "General: It's 'fun to shoot some people'" CNN (4 February 2005)(For a more contextualized explanation of General Mattis' remarks, see this essay by one of the Marines who served under Mattis: "Breaking the Warrior Code" The American Spectator (February 11, 2005) by John R. Guardiano

• For the mission's sake, for our country's sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division's colors in past battles — "who fought for life and never lost their nerve" — carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world there is “No Better Friend — No Worse Enemy” than a US Marine.
  • Mattis' words in a message to the 1st Marine Division before the 2003 Iraq War as quoted in "Eve of Battle Speech" in The Weekly Standard (1 March 2003); also quoted in War Stories: Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) by Oliver North, p. 53

• Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
  • One of the rules Maj. Gen. James Mattis gave his Marines to live by in Iraq, as quoted in Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006) by Thomas E. Ricks; as excerpted in Armed Forces Journal (August 2006)

• 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.
  • After the invasion of Iraq -and after sending his tanks and artillery home- Mattis sent this message to the Iraqi leaders in every area his men served in, as quoted in Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006) by Thomas E. Ricks; as excerpted in Armed Forces Journal (August 2006)

• None of the widely touted new technologies and weapons systems "would have helped me in the last three years [in Iraq and Afghanistan]. But I could have used cultural training [and] language training. I could have used more products from American universities [who] understood the world does not revolve around America and [who] embrace coalitions and allies for all of the strengths that they bring us."
  • Speaking at a professional conference on military transformation, urging the Pentagon to invest in efforts that would "diminish the conditions that drive people to sign up for these kinds of insurgencies." Breaking the Warrior Code (February 2005)

• In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are, if you cannot create harmony—even vicious harmony—on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete. We have got to have officers who can create harmony across all those lines.
  • At the May 2010 JFCOM Conference Ares blog, Aviation Week (June 2010)

• PowerPoint makes us stupid.
  • Referring to the ubiquitous presentation software at a brief in North Carolina in April 2010, as quoted in We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint (2010) by Elisabeth Bumiller, The New York Times

Unsourced

• It's the mission of every Marine in this Battalion to send one dead Iraqi home to Mama.
  • Speech before Task Force Ripper offensive to recapture Kuwait during Desert Storm.

External links

• Official Biography: General James N. Mattis, Biographies: General Officers & Senior Executives, Manpower & Reserve Affairs, United States Marine Corps.