In this communication Stephen Prince states, "Every veteran I have spoken with has made it clear to me the General is way out of line and unfit to be a leader of Marines."
 
Either Prince has carefully selected his veterans or the Marine Corps has greatly changed since I served———or he is lying. If the Marines I met during my several years of regular and reserve service are an indicative sample, I can assure you that Mattis' remarks would receive better than a 90% approval rate from all the troops, and probably a higher rate from those in combat units. Only the congenital complainers and losers would object to them.
 
And as far as the effect upon potential Arab terrorists, I expect that learning of the general's opinion would serve as a disincentive to recruitment.
 
In short, Prince is talking through his garrison cap.

Richard Donley   2 07 05