Trump announced the Retirement of James Mattis

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The U.S President Donald Trump has announced the retirement of Defense Secretary James Mattis. The move comes just one day after the commander-in-chief suddenly declared the withdrawal of U.S troops from Syria. The president wrote on Twitter to announce the change. He wrote, “General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment”. He added, “General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service”!

General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018

He also said that he disagreed on Trump on certain things upon their first meeting. The first being Trump’s dismissal of the U.S-led NATO Western military alliance as obsolete as well as the president’s assurances that “you bet your ass” he would use waterboarding, a torture technique. Mattis said that Trump wasn’t a man who is immune to being persuaded if he thinks you’ve got an argument. Trump informed CBS in October that Mattis was “sort of a Democrat” and “it could be that he is” leaving. Mattis was known for his anti-Iran stances prior to entering the Trump administration. He was often considered a moderate upon entering the president’s inner circle. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday that Mattis thought that the time was not right to leave.