<p>Donald Trump embarked on a victory tour this week, surprising a Cincinnati audience Thursday by announcing that he had decided to appoint &ldquo;Mad Dog Mattis&rdquo; as his Secretary of Defense. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the closest thing to General George Patton that we have,&rdquo; said Trump. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about time.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>The announcement was a surprise, and the President-elect jokingly told his audience not to let the news &ldquo;out of this room.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I want to save the suspense for next week,&rdquo; said Trump. ;</p>
<p>As required by federal law, military personnel must be out of uniform for seven years before taking any position in the Department of Defense. ;</p>
<p>As I wrote in a previous article, 66-year-old Mattis must obtain a waiver from Congress before he can accept the position. According to <em>Fox News</em>, senior members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are already drawing up the paperwork.</p>
<p>Mattis enjoys strong Congressional support, especially from Arizona Republican John McCain. Mattis is &ldquo;without a doubt one of the finest military officers of his generation and an extraordinary leader who inspires a rare and special admiration of his troops,&rdquo; said McCain. &ldquo;America will be fortunate to have General Mattis in its service once again.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Mattis participated in the first US war with Iraq (1991) as a lieutenant colonel and led the First Marine Division during the invasion to unseat Saddam Hussein in 2003. ;He held the position of US Central Command head from 2010 to 2013 &ndash; meaning he was effectively in charge of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. ;</p>
<p>Mattis has distinguished himself as a senior commander and a ferocious fighter during his 44 years of service, but the former marine has little experience in the realm of diplomacy. ;</p>
<p>&#8220;He knows the Middle East, South Asia, NATO, and other areas and has evinced both a nuanced approach to the wars we&#8217;re in and an appreciation for the importance of allies,&#8221; said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security.</p>
<p>Mattis&rsquo; tour in Iran was cut short by the Obama administration, and he continues to insist that Iran is the biggest roadblock preventing peace in the Middle East. ;Mattis has also been highly critical of Obama&rsquo;s efforts to combat ISIS in Syria and Iraq, which made him an attractive choice for Trump&rsquo;s cabinet. ;</p>
<p>Like Trump, his biggest weakness seems to be poor word choice, and the retired general has come under fire for his colorful comments about killing. Unlike Trump, he doesn&#8217;t endorse the use of torture and he doesn&#8217;t think we should tear up the JCPOA. Mattis has also ;cautioned Trump in regards to his friendly attitude towards Russia.</p>
<p>If he receives clearance from Congress, ;Mattis will be the first former ranking general to accept the position of Defense Secretary since George Marshall in 1950.  ; ;</p>
<p>In the meantime, ;Trump plans to continue his post-election tour with stops in Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and North Carolina. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That he wants to do this, to take time out of his schedule to fly out here and personally thank the people&hellip;shows what kind of man he is,&#8221; said Josh Kanowitz, 43. ;</p>