On Dec. 20, 2018, it was announced that U.S. “Defense” Secretary James “Maddog” Mattis was resigning. Mattis resigned in protest over President Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops fighting in northeast Syria and cut in half the number of U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan.
It was originally announced that Mattis would stay on until Feb. 28, which would allow time for President Trump to nominate a successor and for the successor to confirmed by the Republican Senate. Within days, however, it was revealed that “Maddog” would at the president’s insistence leave by Jan. 1. Mattis was replaced “on a temporary basis” by Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive. Shanahan’s official title will be “acting” secretary of defense. Unlike Mattis, Shanahan is a civilian who comes from the industrial capitalist side of the military-industrial complex.
Since he assumed office on Jan. 20, 2017, Trump had been surrounded by a ring of generals, the most prominent of which was Mattis. General Mattis was known to be an enthusiastic supporter of the war in Afghanistan as well as all the other colonial wars the U.S. has been fighting around the world, including the war in northeastern Syria. Even more important, he is a strong supporter of NATO, which acts as the military wing of the U.S. world empire.
Trump, in contrast to Mattis and other generals who have surrounded Trump until recently, has expressed skepticism about continuing the wars in Afghanistan and Syria. According to the U.S. government, U.S. troops are in Syria to fight the remnants of ISIS and protect “our allies” the Kurds against NATO member Turkey.
A Critique of Crisis Theory 