House, Senate Committee Approve Mattis Waiver

The House committee is scheduled to debate and markup the waiver Thursday.

In private conversations with Trump, Mattis has already argued against the use of torture, telling the president-elect “Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I’ll do better”. “There is a decreasing number of areas where we can engage cooperatively and an increasing number of areas where we’re going to have to confront Russian Federation”.

Because of this, Republican Senators are pushing for a statutory waiver that would allow Mattis to hold the office.

“Challenges posed by Russian Federation include alarming messages from Moscow regarding the use of nuclear weapons; treaty violations; the use of hybrid warfare tactics to destabilize other countries; and involvement in hacking and information warfare”, Mattis said in a written statement, noting dangers Trump has downplayed. “And that we take the steps – the integrated steps, diplomatic, economic, military and the alliance steps working with out allies to defend ourselves where we must”.

“I have very modest expectations about areas of co-operation with Mr Putin”, Mattis said.

“In addition to ensuring collaboration across government and the adoption of an integrated strategy, we must also embrace our worldwide alliances and security partnerships. While I believe General Mattis will make a strong Defense Secretary, I have concerns about changing the law of the land to break a long-standing tradition that protects our nation”.

“We are being treated as irrelevant”, Smith said. The bill will now advance to the House, where lawmakers will vote on it to pave the way for Mattis’ swift confirmation one week before the president-elect is inaugurated in Washington. But many Democrats would fiercely oppose him. A Democratic spokesperson for the committee said, “this is not a minor issue”.

“Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of the American military tradition”, he told the senators.

Federal law dictates that in order to serve as Secretary of Defense, a person has to be a civilian, and “may not be appointed as Secretary of Defense within seven years after relief from active duty”.

The 66-year-old, who retired in 2013 after serving as commander of US Central Command in charge of all US forces in the Middle East, said he agrees with a permanent US military presence in the Baltic states.

The vote came after Mattis, who retired in 2013, faced three hours of largely supportive questioning in which he branded Russia a “strategic adversary”, promised to rebuild a diminished military and said he would support North Atlantic Treaty Organisation against Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s attempt to “break” it.

The retired general has served in the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In other words, Nunn was saying that “Mad Dog” Mattis is no Douglas MacArthur.