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… General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him — he hadn’t received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House.
KABUL—The U.S. military has blacklisted Afghanistan's largest private airline, alleging it is smuggling "bulk" quantities of opium on civilian flights to Tajikistan, a corridor through which the drugs reach the rest of the world. Kam Air was barred this month from receiving U.S. military contracts by U.S. Central Command chief Marine Gen. James Mattis, according to U.S. military officials.
"The U.S. will not do business with those who fund and support illicit activities," U.S. Army Maj.-Gen. Richard Longo, the commander of Task Force 2010, a coalition anticorruption unit, said in an interview. "Kam Air is too large of a company not to know what has been going on within its organization."
"Export earnings from Afghan opiates may be worth $2.4 billion—equivalent to 15%" of gross domestic product, the UNODC said in a report last year. As the U.S. and allies prepare to withdraw military forces in 2014, officials of coalition countries have expressed concerns that Afghanistan will become a narco-state where legal business activities and government institutions are intertwined with the drug trade. Some Western officials fear that the narco-trade and associated corruption will pose a greater threat to stability after 2014 than the Taliban, who also derive a large portion of their revenues from narcotics...."
"Kam Air flies cargo to many destinations. But its only scheduled Central Asian passenger route is between Kabul and Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The poorest former Soviet republic, Tajikistan suffers from political instability and porous borders. High-level government protection for drug smugglers has made the country a trafficking route for Afghan opium to reach the world, Western law-enforcement officials have said. A spokesman for Tajikistan's National Security Committee declined to comment, as did the Foreign Ministry in Dushanbe."
Originally posted by Miraj
That's a shame.
I've read accounts of him in a couple of books. We may have lost an honest military leader.
On Tuesday night, the Marine Corps announced via twitter General James N. Mattis' plans for retirement this spring after four decades of service.
"You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
"The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some *******s in the world that just need to be shot. There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
Mattis said that military action against Iran would only delay efforts there to develop nuclear weapons, and only the Iranian people can force real change there.
The results of the war game were particularly troubling to Gen. James N. Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, according to officials who either participated in the Central Command exercise or who were briefed on the results and spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature. When the exercise had concluded earlier this month, according to the officials, General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.
Originally posted by Djayed
reply to post by MsAphrodite
Not trying to be argumentative but The Blaze is a GOP aligned news organization that is owned by Glenn Beck. Wiki.
Now with that said, I think it is a little more fare than breitbart.com
This article states he is retiring:
On Tuesday night, the Marine Corps announced via twitter General James N. Mattis' plans for retirement this spring after four decades of service.
source
This man is a hero and a true American, after four decades of service I think we would have heard this in other media outlets.
On a side note, here are some great quotes from this great leader that is retiring:
"You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
"The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some *******s in the world that just need to be shot. There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
And one of my favorites!!
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
Read more: www.businessinsider.com...
edit on 1/27/2013 by Djayed because: Added some quotesedit on 1/27/2013 by Djayed because: (no reason given)edit on 1/27/2013 by Djayed because: fixed link
Afghan officials took exception to statements in the report, endorsed by the International Security Assistance Force, which said the abuse was "systematic." Aimal Faizi, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, said ISAF makes weekly visits to prisons run by the Interior Ministry and the national security agency. "If there's a problem, why aren't they saying it when they visit?" he asked. The report contains a statement by ISAF commander Gen. John R. Allen that he and his deputy had written to the Afghan government about 80 cases of abuse. Allen had already stopped transferring detainees to the facilities because international law prohibits the transfer of any detainee to a government where there are "substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture." Some 635 detainees in facilities around Afghanistan were interviewed for the report. Read more: www.upi.com...