Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday underscored what he called an “absolutely critical” need for the U.S. military to shore up international alliances and compromise with partner nations in a speech delivered a day after President Trump appeared before the United Nations for the first time.
“Not all good ideas come from the country with the most aircraft carriers,” Mattis said in the keynote address to an Air Force conference in Maryland.
Nations that do not forge strong allies stagnate and wither, he said, citing the 69 nations that have banded around the U.S.-led effort to wipe out the Islamic State group and the 39-nation coalition in Afghanistan.
“We must be willing to do more than to listen to our allies, we must be willing to be persuaded by them,” Mattis said. “There is a whale of a difference between listening to somebody else’s different idea and then going right on about the way you were going to do it, and being willing to be persuaded.”
The effort to strengthen alliances and the international order forged after World War II is now a top priority of the Pentagon, Mattis said, recounting a quote by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the only thing more difficult than fighting with allies is fighting without them.
“Never did I fight in an all-American formation. I’ve always fought alongside coalition partners,” said Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before retiring to be defense secretary.
In an address to the U.N. Tuesday, Trump attempted to rally nations against North Korea and its burgeoning nuclear weapons program and indicated new pressure must be applied to Iran. But he also said he will put U.S. interests ahead of the international community.
“As president of the United States, I will always put America first. Just like you as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always put your countries first,” Trump said.
