Page 1098 - Central Command News Today

In central command. as a joint force commander, secretary mattis commanded u.s. joint forces command nato supreme allied command for transformation and u.s. central command. at u.s. central command he directed military operations for more than 200,000 soldiers, sailors, airman, cost guardsmen and allies forced across the middle east. and now, mr. secretary, your president has called you to lead all of the armed forces of the united states. he and i have the highest faith in your judgment, your c...

State sponsor of terrorism. but today you heard him say, you know what? theres a deal. you got to live with it. the u.s. made commitments to allies. >> theres also a different role hes playing now, wolf. and the big difference is this. he is now going to be as secretary of defense a diplomat as well as a leader of the largest military force that we have. n so when you look at that and you look at -- when he was the boss of central command, his main focus had to be oiran. that was enemy number on...

The president-elect has been asked repeatedly by democratic and republican senators whether they respect the u.s. intelligence community. you have democratic and republican senators looking for reassurance that they respect the u.s. intelligence community because the president-elect repeatedly has called that into question. its fairly remarkable that every nominee has to -- you would think that would be a boiler pleat. im proud to be here and respect you and i am happy to be a part of this great...

And what i think also is important, mattis today was quite clear and unequivocal in that he has every assurance that donald trump will listen to him when it comes to his opinion on these issues. and he will not hesitate to say something that donald trump may not want to hear. hes not going to get caught up in the politics of it. hes a strong advocate for the military. what the military needs, making us -- about continuing to be the strongest military force in the world. hes not going to worry ab...

Defense, which we have let deteriorate for the last eight years. look, i have 20 kids and grandkids depending on us having someone like mattis lead us. >> bill: he thrives in the field, kandahar, afghanistan, baghdad, iraq, how will he deal with the huge bureaucracy in washington, d.c. >> just wait and watch him. he has been a great manager all this time. keep in mind when he is in charge of central command, it was a large number of people and you could say thats a bureaucracy also. i just have ...

Libyans who wanted to build a security force after qaddafi was toppled. the united states will get involved not looking for conflict but trying to avoid conflict but actually being willing to show some strength to avoid that conflict. >> martha: thank you very much. >> bill: tillersons point is you have to do something and that was the example he used given the conflict there in ukraine. general mattis, age 66. 44 years in the united states marine corps. most recently head of centcom, the most s...

So who will be the news makers in the new year? were back with our panelists picks for the person to watch in 2017. dan, start us off. >> well, donald trump has promised to defeat islamic state, so my person to watch is the new secretary of defense, former marine general jim mattis. jim mattis was the former commander of the marines in anbar province in 2004 and then was the head of the central command, which covers the middle east, pakistan and afghanistan. he knows the area cold from the level...

So who will be the news makers in the new year? were back with our panelists picks for the person to watch in 2017. dan, start us off. >> well, donald trump has promised to defeat islamic state, so my person to watch is the new secretary of defense, former marine general jim mattis. jim mattis was the former commander of the marines in anbar province in 2004 and then was the head of the central command, which covers the middle east, pakistan and afghanistan. he knows the area cold from the level...

Preferred goal? can you imagine an american administration saying that and what its effects would be? >> i can imagine it just because personally i have no real idea of the policy that will exist in a trump administration knowing how he chooses to make various decisions. but theres one thing i would point out here. i mentioned the friedman nomination, a very pro-settlement right wing of israels right wing but theres also the mattis nomination, the head of centcom, general james mattis who said a...

Can you imagine an american administration saying that and what its effects would be? >> i can imagine it just because personally i have no real idea of the policy that will exist in a trump administration knowing how he chooses to make various decisions. but theres one thing i would point out here. i mentioned the friedman nomination, a very pro-settlement right wing of israels right wing but theres also the mattis nomination, the head of centcom, general james mattis who said at various times ...