Mattis Weighs in
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General Mattis has been the cool head in this administration, and the only person who has been able to disagree with Trump without getting replaced. Here he is keeping his cool, but not contradicting in any way what Trump said.
We think it is important to note and somewhat comforting that he emphasizes what the US would do if our territories were attacked. Frankly, we don't think that is going to happen. And therefore, Mattis is not speaking as a preemptive neocon. That said, he carefully does not define "threat".
The full White House statement on the 6th North Korean nuclear test, as delivered by Mattis shortly after 3pm ET:
"Any threat to the US or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming. Kim Jong Un should take heed in the United Nations' Security Council's unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses and they remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said we have many options to do so."
Now if his words could be used to stop this trade sanction nonsense Mnuchin is spouting we'd be more at ease.
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