General
James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, the famous ex-Marine and the hero of countless
conflicts and wars, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump
as his Secretary of Defence.
And what an extraordinary man and colorful figure Mattis is. Here are some of the things that he has said over the years.
1. “I’m going to plead with you, do not
cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do
here for 10,000 years.”
2. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet. (Time Magazine).
3. “You are part of the world’s most
feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your
weapon.” (In a letter Mattis wrote to his Marines the night before the
March 2003 Iraq invasion).
4. “I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.” (San Diego Union Tribune).
5. “You go into Afghanistan, you got
guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a
veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s
a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight
them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people.
I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.” (CNN)
6. “Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.” (Letter to First Marine Division)
7. “I come in peace. I didn’t bring
artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck
with me, I’ll kill you all.” (San Diego Union Tribune).
Mattis sounds like my type of man: a
real warrior with the heart of a Viking. With him as Secretary of
Defence I have no doubt that America, and indeed the world, will be a
better and safer place.
Trump has done well by cultivating the
courage to nominate him. The President-elect has done equally well by
appointing Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor.
This is another interesting and
colourful character who appears to understand the monumental challenge
that the world is facing today very well.
A well-experienced and extremely tough
military intelligence officer who served courageously and meritoriously
in Iraq and Afghanistan he is undoubtedly the quintessential
“braveheart”.
In his 2016 book titled “The Field Of Fight” he characterised U.S. counter-intelligence as “a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people”.
In a speech earlier this year, he called
Islam “a cancer” and “a political ideology” that “hides behind this
notion of being a religion.”
He went on to say that given what is happening in today’s world “the fear of Muslims is rational”.
Permit me to share his exact words:
“We are facing another ‘ism,’ just like
we faced nazism, fascism, imperialism and communism,” Flynn said. “This
is Islamism: it is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion
people on this planet and it has to be excised.”
For the record let me be clear. I do not
believe that Islam itself is a cancer but I do believe that radical
islam most certainly is.
I also disagree with his assertion that
Islam is not a religion and I reject the notion that all of the 1.7
billion Muslims in the world today are violent extremists, jihadists and
fundamentalists.
I believe that Islam is not only a
religion but also a respectable and noble one and that most Muslims are
decent, hard-working, God-fearing, law-abiding people. I most certainly
do not share the view that ALL Muslims are terrorists.
However this cannot be said of the
Islamic fundamentalists, the jihadists, the Islamists and the
practitioners of radical Islam. I believe that they are indeed ALL
terrorists and that Islamic fundamentalism itself is a dangerous,
self-serving, cruel, primitive and vicious cult which is fuelled and
sustained by wahabbi and salifist hate and premised on an unrelenting
and barbaric political ideology.
As a matter of fact it is worst than
that. It is not just a political ideology but also a deadly and violent
tool of and vehicle for genocide, mass murder, tyranny, subjugation,
political conquest and oppression.
It is the greatest evil that humanity
has been confronted with since the slave trade, colonialism, fascism,
communism, imperialism and neocolonialism and it must be defeated and
utterly crushed lest it consumes us all.
The truth is that it is worse than
cancer. It is a cultural and political nuclear bomb that is preparing to
explode and destroy the entire world.
In spite of his sweeping generalisations
and his inability to make a clear distinction between radical Islam and
Islam itself, I believe that Flynn will still make an excellent NSA
because he understands the nature and mindset of the enemy very well.
He is also deeply courageous, utterly
fearless, and thoroughly forthright. By all standards he is a man of
immense discipline and unimpeachable integrity: a profoundly good man
and a loyal and patriotic American.
When one couples this with Trump’s
appointment of the rugged and highly combative Mike Pompeio as the new
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency there can be little doubt
that Trump is assembling a great team of people that will make American
foreign policy far more decisive, dramatic and virile, that will change
the face of the world as we know it and that will crush Islamist
terrorism and radical Islam in an utterly profound and meaningful way.
That is what the world needs today and that is why I supported him and believed in him right from the outset.
At least now the American people can say “Merry Christmas” again instead of having to say “Happy Holidays”.
At least American soldiers will be allowed to sleep with the Holy Bible under their pillows again.
At least Christmas trees will be proudly displayed in shopping malls all over America again.
At least the name of the Lord will be
glorified again and the good old fashioned Christian values upon which
the United States of America was originally founded will be recognised,
acknowledged and established again.
It is indeed “goodbye” to Barack and
“hello” to Donald. It is the advent of a new and glorious era for
America and indeed the rest of the world.
It is a golden era in which the
misguided and discredited concept of political correctness and the
wholesale acceptance of liberal values, humanist philosophies and
strange pagan practices, all in an attempt to establish a new world
order, is rejected.
That is the hope that this new
dispensation brings: to lift up America and once again make her the
shining light on a hill that will provide the direction and decisive
leadership that the world so badly needs.
I am also excited by Trump’s appointment of the African American Dr. Ben Carson,
a man who, like the biblical Daniel, is blessed with an excellent
spirit, as his Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Development.
Finally it gives me great pleasure to note the fact that my old friend Adebayo Ogunlesi has been appointed as a member of Trump’s economic advisory team.
Where are those that said Trump hates
people of color and that he loathes Nigerians? Congratulations Bayo and
keep the flag flying!
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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