AFGHANISTAN/JAMES MATTIS/MILITARY/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “By plainly stating his policy differences in his resignation letter, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has sparked an incipient challenge to President Donald Trump’s foreign and security agenda that sets his departure apart from scores of others that preceded him. Mattis, a retired Marine general who was highly regarded by Republicans and Democrats, had far wider political support in Washington than Trump himself when he walked into the White House on Thursday [12-20-18] afternoon. Sources said Mattis had already made up his mind that it was time to go. Later in the afternoon, Trump announced Mattis was retiring, only to be rapidly contradicted as Mattis circulated his eight-paragraph resignation letter. Even as Washington digested Trump’s surprise decisions this week to remove U.S. troops from Syria and to draw down the military presence in Afghanistan, it was Mattis’ departure and the attendant strategic uncertainty that sources said really vexed officials across the administration and in the U.S. Congress.”
–Reuters, “In Mattis Resignation, a Singular Challenge to Trump’s Agenda,” The New York Times online, December 20, 2018