Call Sign Chaos

by Jim Mattis

In his memoir, General Franks explained why he chose not to employ my Marines. “We don’t want to repeat the Soviets’ mistakes,” he wrote. “There’s nothing to be gained by blundering around those mountains and gorges with armor battalions chasing a lightly armed enemy.” I didn’t have armor; I had fast-moving light infantry and Bob Harward’s Special Forces, all heliborne, reinforced by agile wheeled light armored vehicles. By closing off the mountain passes with overwatch teams and then attacking with well-supported infantry, we were ready to squeeze Al Qaeda in a vise. Here is how the White House correspondent for The New York Times described what happened: “Hank Crumpton, who was leading the CIA’s operations in Afghanistan, brought his concerns to the White House, imploring Bush to send the marines to block escape routes….Bush deferred to Franks….In his desire to let the military call the shots, Bush had missed the best opportunity of his entire presidency to catch America’s top enemy.”