"Mad Dog" Mattis For Secretary Of Defense?

Click here for an article by Richard Sisk at Military.com, entitled "Mattis to Trump: Beer, Cigarettes Work Better Than Waterboarding."

In his meeting last week with the man he calls "Mad Dog Mattis," Trump said he asked, "What do you think of waterboarding? He said -- I was surprised -- he said, 'I've never found it to be useful.'"

Trump said Mattis told him, "'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture.'"

Well, I like him for that.

He also says there is "no going back" on the Iran deal, and he's a staunch opponent of Vladimir Putin, positions that put him at odds with Trump and his wingnut National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.

Mattis has a reputation of being an excellent general, and nonpolitical (unlike Petraeus, for example). He seems to have bipartisan support, and seems to be an excellent pick -- Trump's best yet. There's a stumbling block, though: a retired officer, he's been out of service for three years, but that's not long enough; unless an officer has been out for seven years, a congressional waiver is needed. That waiver has only been given once before, to General George C. Marshall, in 1950.

According to an article in the Washington Post, "How Trump picking Mattis as Pentagon chief breaks with 65 years of U.S. history," by Dan Lamothe:

The special legislation passed to make Marshall secretary of defense amended the 1947 national security act, which shaped U.S. military and intelligence agencies after World War II. The amended legislation said that while Marshall was permitted to serve as defense secretary, “the authority granted by this Act is not to be construed as approval by the Congress of continuing appointments of military men in the office of Secretary of Defense in the future.”

It looks as though the Democrats intend to filibuster Mattis's nomination. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has said:

“While I deeply respect General Mattis’s service, I will oppose a waiver. Civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy, and I will not vote for an exception to this rule.”

That's a principled position, but Democrats have to ask themselves: Do we obstruct Trump at every turn, the way the Republicans did with Obama? Or do we cooperate with Trump when it seems he's doing the right thing? (And Mattis seems to be an excellent pick for Sec Def.)