In an interesting swap, Marine General James Mattis, who used to serve under General David Petraeus will now be his superior as he Mattis assumes command of CENTCOM.
It's an excellent appointment in my view.
Mattis and Petraeus have known and worked with each other for a long time, and Mattis, like Petraeus is an innovator and well up on the COIN strategy, with both the positives and negatives that implies. Mattis was instrumental in updating Marine Corps training for Iraq and Afghanistan and is known as a no-nonsense, aggressive commander who understands when to win hearts and minds and when to come in with guns blazing.
He got into some trouble back in 2005 with SecDef Gates for some Patton-esque remarks he made to a group in San Diego:
"Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun to shoot some people."
He directed that sentiment toward "guys" in Afghanistan "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," he said.
Gates has a long memory and passed Mattis over for the top spot in the Marine Corps, but now Mattis will be head of CENTCOM, where he's likely to be a lot less high profile.
If Afghanistan can be turned into any kind of good outcome, Petraeus and Mattis are the team to do it.
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