Introduction Marines don't know how to spell the word defeat. -General James Mattis Thursday, December 20, 2018-- The White House Secretary of Defense James Norman Mattis exited the West Wing, climbing into the lead vehicle of his motorcade to speed back to the Pentagon. He would not be coming back. He'd had enough. He was done. His resignation--and its blunt manner--launched shock waves through a town that by now seemed impervious to the seismic blasts regularly exploding throughout the Trump administration. Officially, Mattis had gone to the Oval Office to reverse the president's tweet-born announcement of a precipitous troop pull-out from Syria. He failed, and when that happened, he informed Trump he was leaving. But that wasn't the whole truth. There's precious little whole truth in Washington. Mattis's outrage over Syria, while real, was only a pretext to announce a decision he had made months before to cut his losses and move on. And why not? To survive in Washington, you need alliances. One by one, what administration allies Mattis once had vanished into the night: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, and now Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, had one foot out the door. Trump later tweeted that Mattis was "retiring." He wasn't. Arriving at the Pentagon, Mattis immediately distributed copies of his previously composed resignation letter to defense reporters. The letter minced few words. Its key section highlighted the disparity between a president and his secretary of defense, saying: "My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances. "Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position." James Mattis, the quintessential Marine, had learned some valuable and painful lessons while serving the Trump administration. Prime among them was how to spell a new word: defeat. And, to be honest about it, so had I. Excerpted from Holding the Line: Inside the Pentagon with General Mattis by Guy Snodgrass All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
