(UNI) US Defense Secretary James Mattis has resigned after clashing with President Donald Trump over the abrupt withdrawal of US troops from Syria, citing irreconcilable policy differences in a move that took Washington by surprise.
“Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defence, whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,” Mattis wrote in his letter to the President.
Indeed, Mattis’ resignation letter amounts to a rebuke of several of Trump’s foreign policy views, with the outgoing defence secretary touting the importance of US alliances and of being “unambiguous” in approaching adversaries such as Russia and China. It is devoid of any praise for the President.