Mattis would not have been so 'forthcoming' about Biden had he known he would run
Julio Rosas 6 days ago
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said he would not have been so candid on his thoughts about Joe Biden had he known the former vice president was going to enter the 2020 presidential race.
Though he has made clear his unwillingness to speak ill of a sitting president, Mattis criticized former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as Biden, in his new book, Call Sign Chaos. With Obama and Biden, Mattis cut into their handling of the Iraq War and their diplomatic approach with Iran.
Mattis noted he was first contracted to write the book in 2013 and was almost done by 2017.
"I was writing a history book at that point. I started writing this book in 2013. It was done, pretty much, by version five by 2017. Had I known the former vice president was going run for office, I assure you, I would not have, probably, been that forthcoming," Mattis told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday.
"I think the Obama Administration, President Obama’s administration had made the decision to leave Iraq despite what the intelligence community was telling us would happen. They were clear that an al Qaeda associated group would rise, that the Iraqi government, the Iraqi people, the Iraqi nation was in a post combat, pre-reconciliation phase," Mattis continued, saying the withdrawal lead to the rise of ISIS.
“I found [Biden] an admirable and amiable man. But he was past the point where he was willing to entertain a ‘good idea.’ He didn’t want to hear more; he wanted our forces out of Iraq. Whatever path led there fastest, he favored,” Mattis wrote. “He exuded the confidence of a man whose mind was made up, perhaps even indifferent to considering the consequences were he judging the situation incorrectly."
Biden has claimed he was not planning on running for president until he saw Trump's response to the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.