No ordinary resignation: Trump's precipitous pullout from Syria the final straw for Mattis
by Jamie McIntyre
| December 21, 2018 09:46 AM
Almost from the beginning of his tenure as President Trump’s defense secretary retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis faced questions over how he could continue to serve a president who did not share his core values.
Particularly his belief in the importance of allies, and an understanding that protecting America’s friends was as much in our interests as theirs.
As Trump ignored Mattis’ advice on issue after issue, his position became increasingly untenable. The president’s decision to precipitously pull all U.S. pull troops out of Syria and thereby abandon America’s Kurdish allies was more than he could take.
“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,†Mattis wrote a letter of resignation. Mattis brought the letter with him to the White House Thursday, in one last desperate measure to get the president to reconsider his decision.
Mattis said he would step down Feb. 28, 2019, which he added: “should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February.â€
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/no-ordinary-resignation-trumps-precipitous-pullout-from-syria-the-final-straw-for-mattis
