A former top Pentagon official said that President Trump’s Twitter announcement that ISIS had been defeated was “terrible,” and suggested the move prompted outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to announce his resignation.
“It’s terrible. It’s absolutely terrible,” Michele Flournoy, who served as the undersecretary for policy at from 2009 to 2012 at the Pentagon, told the BBC, adding, “It’s particularly terrible for the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way in support of the U.S. strategy to have the rug pulled out from under them with no notice, no explanation, no plan to secure the hard-fought gains they’ve made.”
“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to Mattis, but I’m guessing that was kind of the last straw,” Flournoy said. “He’s extremely protective of the institution of the military.”
Mattis announced Thursday that he was resigning on principle and told Trump he should find “a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned” with his — a move that came after he reportedly attempted to convince Trump to keep U.S. troops in Syria on Thursday.
The meeting came after the Pentagon announced Wednesday that troops were being withdrawn from Syria, although the Pentagon confessed that efforts to eliminate ISIS had not concluded, despite Trump’s comments that the regime had been overthrown. Additionally, the military has been instructed to start withdrawing approximately half of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, CNN reports.
“I think Mattis came to believe he was simply not aligned anymore with the president’s policies, or the way he was treating our allies in particular,” Flournoy said.
In Mattis’ resignation letter, the former four-star general in the U.S. Marine Corps indicated that his departure was based on ideological differences.
“One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships,” Mattis wrote in his resignation letter. “While the U.S. remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.
“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” Mattis wrote. “We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conductive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”
Mattis will remain at the Pentagon until Feb. 28.
