Shooting the Breeze

One of our brave Marine Corps generals has gotten himself into some hot water by using some rather politically incorrect language during a panel discussion (from MyWay News):

A Marine Corps general with battle awards is being counseled to watch his words more carefully after publicly observing that "it's fun to shoot some people."

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, a career infantry office now in charge of developing ways to better train and equip Marines, also made fun of the manhood of Afghans during comments Tuesday while speaking at a forum in San Diego.

On Thursday, Gen. Mike Hagee, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, issued a statement of regret about Mattis' remarks, saying they reflected "the unfortunate and harsh realities of war."

According to an audio recording, Mattis had said, "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. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."

He added, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys 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."
His comments evoked laughter and applause from the audience.

Frankly, I think this is hilarious. Good for the general! The reality is, the world is full of some pretty bad guys who are desperately in need of shooting, and this general is willing to go and do it for us. He may never make a good politician, but this is the kind of guy I want out there leading our troops into battle.

To quote another famous general - "Nobody ever won a war by dying for his country. You win wars by making the other poor bastard die for his country." General Patton had it right in WWII, and I think General Mattis has it right in 2005.