“Secretary Mattis and Minister Hayali affirmed their commitment to continued U.S.-Iraq cooperation and a strong partnership that will enable the Iraqis to deal ISIS a lasting defeat,” according to a readout from the Pentagon on the phone call.
Mattis and the Pentagon were asked by Trump to review the military campaign against ISIS and develop multiple options for moving forward by the end of this month. Trump has said he wants operations against the militant group to be accelerated and has told Mattis to disregard restrictions that were imposed by the Obama administration with respect to US troop numbers and civilian casualties.
Trump’s reliance on Mattis is high. He has given Mattis free rein to develop the anti-terror strategy, the Washington Post reported last week. And speaking in a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May in late January, Trump said he was giving his defense secretary power to override him on the issue of using torture, something Trump supports but Mattis is opposed to.
“[Mattis] can override because I’m giving him that power,” Trump said, “I’m going to rely on him.”
Mattis served in the US military for 44 years, before retiring in 2013. He led Marines into Iraq in 2003, a war he called a “strategic mistake,” and has made strong statements about the current war with ISIS in the country, advocating for a tougher stance against the terror group through strengthening US allies.
Known for statements like “a good soldier follows orders, but a true warrior wears his enemy’s skin like a poncho” that led the media to dub him “Mad Dog,” Mattis began his tenure in the civilian sector as Secretary of Defense with a message marked by a tone welcoming to American allies.
“Recognizing that no nation is secure without friends, we will work with the State Department to strengthen our alliances,” a message to his colleagues at the Pentagon read.
When it comes to Iraqi and Kurdish allies, Mattis knows them well. He commanded the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion. “Our fight is not with the Iraqi people,” Mattis said in a message sent to his division on the eve of the launch of the attack 13 years ago. He urged them to be aggressive against those who resist and compassionate towards the “people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam’s oppression.”
He played key roles in operations in Fallujah in 2004, described as the bloodiest of the whole war. Perhaps most memorably of all, he ordered an airstrike on a suspected insurgent safe house near the Syrian border, killing 42 civilians attending a wedding party. Mattis reportedly said it took him 30 seconds to deliberate authorizing the bombing.
Though, as a military officer, Mattis played a commanding role in the American invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, he has described it as a mistake.
Speaking at a conference in 2015, Mattis reflected on the 2003 war, saying, “We will probably look back on the invasion of Iraq as a mistake, a strategic mistake.”
“I think people were pretty much aware that the US military didn’t think it was a very wise idea,” he said, according to an audio recording obtained by The Intercept. “But we gave a cheery ‘Aye aye, Sir.’ Because when you elect someone commander-in-chief – we give our advice. We generally give it in private.”
In testimony about ISIS to the House Intelligence Committee in 2014, Mattis said that the war, especially the surge of US troops numbers, and the Sunni Awakening meant that Iraq in 2010 was in a phase of “post-combat, pre-reconciliation,” Business Insider reported, but that was squandered by then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who acted “on his worst instincts” and created deep mistrust in Kurdish and Sunni populations.
Mattis has been critical of former President Barack Obama’s policy in the Middle East, both the nuclear deal with Iran and the fight against ISIS.
The war on ISIS is “unguided by a sustained policy or sound strategy [and is] replete with half-measures,” Time Magazine quoted Mattis saying last August.
A year earlier, he said the US had the troops to take on ISIS but the question was whether the political will was there.
He made that comment in a March 2015 interview with Peter Robinson on the Wall Street Journal’s Uncommon Knowledge program when he advocated for hitting ISIS strong, fighting a war of annihilation, not attrition. “The first time they meet the forces that we put against them, there should be basically no survivors. They should learn that we can be even tougher than them.”
In his House Intelligence Committee testimony, Mattis said he did not necessarily advocate for American troops on the ground in Iraq but said US forces should be prepared to “strengthen our allies.”
If ISIS wants to fight, Mattis told Robinson, “They should pay a heck of a price for what they’ve done to innocent people out there.”
Trump, from whom Mattis takes orders, has also taken a tough stance on ISIS, saying he will crush them.
Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, speaking last month with the Washington Post, pledged Kurdish cooperation with Trump to defeat ISIS. “I can say that we are ready to cooperate with him and work with him in order to crush ISIL. It is not an easy task, but we will be with him to achieve this mission.”
Barzani stressed that defeat of ISIS needs not just military strength but their ideology must also be targeted. “It is about social and economic and cultural aspects,” he said, encouraging American leadership and continued presence of US troops in Iraq after Mosul’s liberation.
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