Photo by Department of Defense [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
President-elect Donald J. Trump revealed on Thursday former Central Command chief James N. Mattis, as his pick for secretary of defense.
The retired general has been a critic of US policy toward the Middle East and has strong view on Iran, which he sees as one of the greatest threats in the Middle East.
Speaking at a rally in Cincinnati, Trump called 66-year-old General Mattis “the closest thing we have to Gen. George Patton of our time.”
Mattis led the United States Central Command, which dealw military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Pakistan regioins between 2010 to 2013.
According to The Washington Post, Mattis will need Congress to pass new legislation to bypass a federal law that stipulates that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. In the past, Congress made a similar exception just once, when Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950, according to the Post.
