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Who Said What
Retired General James Mattis,
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense in the Trump
administration resigned in December 2018 to protest Donald
Trump's Syria policy. In an interview the following day, he told The
Atlantic, "When you leave an administration over clear
policy differences, you need to give the people who are still
there as much opportunity as possible to defend the country. They
still have the responsibility of protecting this great big
experiment of ours. [...]There is a period in which I owe my
silence. It's not eternal. It's not going to be forever." On
June 4, The Atlantic published a statement by Mattis in
which he writes:
"I have watched this week's unfolding events, angry and
appalled. The words 'Equal Justice Under Law'
are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court.
This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a
wholesome and unifying demand -- one that all of us should be able
to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of
lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of
people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our
values -- our values as people and our values as a nation.
"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago I
swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I
dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under
any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their
fellow citizens -- much less to provide a bizarre photo op for
the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing
alongside.
We must
reject any thinking of our cities as a 'battlespace' that our
uniformed military is called upon to 'dominate.' At home, we
should use our military only when requested to do so, on very
rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as
we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict -- a false
conflict -- between the military and civilian society. It erodes
the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and
women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and
of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests
with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their
communities and are answerable to them.
[...]
"Instructions given by the military departments to our
troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that 'The
Nazi slogan for destroying us [...] was 'Divide and Conquer.' Our
American answer is 'In Union there is Strength.' We must summon
that unity to surmount this crisis -- confident that we are
better than our politics.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not
try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try.
Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences
of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the
consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can
unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil
society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown,
but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that
bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
"[...] We know that we are better than the abuse of executive
authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject
and hold accountable those in office who
would make a mockery of our Constitution.
"Only by adopting a new path -- which means, in truth, returning
to the original path of our founding ideals -- will we again be a
country admired and respected at home and abroad."
Website:
www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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