Summary and Key Points: “Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.” It is the last line of a letter James Mattis wrote in March 2003, as the invasion of Iraq began, addressed to the 1st Marine Division and titled the Commanding General’s Message to All Hands. It is also the only line of that letter anybody quotes, which is a problem, because most of the document says something else.
The Wisdom of James Mattis:
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis waits for the arrival of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence Jan. 18, 2018, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. (DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
Quote of the Day: “Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend — No Worse Enemy’ than a US Marine” – Gen. James Mattis
Gen. James Mattis joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at age 18 in 1968.
According to his official Department of Defense biography, after graduating from college, Mattis was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. His older brother had fought in Vietnam, inspiring him.
Before that, as noted in a New Yorker profile of Mattis in May 2017, the future general was raised in Richland, Wash., in a “bookish household” without a television set.
His father was a nuclear engineer who came to that town — which hosted a nuclear power plant whose high school crest featured a mushroom cloud — to work for the plant, which at the time supplied fissile material to the Manhattan Project. Mattis’ mother was a cipher clerk for the Army during World War II.
While one friend described Mattis’ parents as “kind of hippie-dippie,” Mattis “steered clear of the upheavals of the sixties.” After his retirement from the Marines in 2013, Mattis returned to Richland to be near his mother, who was in her 90s at the time.
The New Yorker profile, published shortly after Mattis began his tenure as Secretary of Defense, noted that Mattis at that time had been a lifelong bachelor, had worried about keeping up a relationship with the travel required by his military career, and made clear that he would not have accepted the job at the Pentagon had he been married.
The profile by Dexter Filkins described Mattis as a “Warrior Monk,” even using that as the headline, although Mattis joked to him that the only monastery he would enjoy is one stocked with “beer and ladies.”
He also shared that he was once engaged to a woman who asked him to leave the Marine Corps, but he ultimately called off the wedding and remained in the Corps.
However, that lifelong bachelorhood ended suddenly in 2022.
A “Warrior Monk” No More
In June 2022, three years after leaving the Pentagon, Mattis married physicist Christina Lomasney.
According to Task and Purpose, the two had an initial ceremony conducted by a priest, but later had a separate one in Las Vegas’ Little Church of the West, officiated by an Elvis impersonator.
It was Matttis’ first marriage, at age 71.
“Not surprising for a Marine, the couple met in a bar,” Politico reported at the time.
The Quote
“Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend — No Worse Enemy’ than a US Marine.”
Mentioned in the 2017 New Yorker profile noting Mattis’ penchant for memorable quotations, this was part of Mattis’ message to the men under his command in March 2003, as the war in Iraq was getting underway.
According to Leadership Now, this was inspired by a quotation from the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla: “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me whom I have not repaid in full.”
The letter, described as the “Commanding General’s Message to All Hands” and addressed to the 1st Marine Division, began with a recitation of Saddam Hussein’s many crimes and atrocities and how it was their job to put an end to them and liberate the Iraqi people.
SYRIA – U.S. Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit fire an M777 Howitzer during a fire mission in northern Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, Mar. 24, 2017. The unit provided 24/7 support in all weather conditions to allow for troop movements, to include terrain denial and the subduing of enemy forces. More than 60 regional and international nations have joined together to enable partnered forces to defeat ISIS and restore stability and security. CJTF-OIR is the global Coalition to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (Note: these are similar weapons to the ones being sent to Ukraine).
“The time has come to end his reign of terror. On your young shoulders rest the hopes of mankind,” Mattis told his men.
He also made it clear that the war was not with Iraq’s people, or even with members of that country’s army, should they decide to surrender.
“While we will move swiftly and aggressively against those who resist, we will treat all others with decency, demonstrating chivalry and soldierly compassion for people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam’s oppression,” Mattis wrote.
The “no better friend” part came at the end of the statement.
“For the mission’s sake, our country’s sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division’s colors in past battles—who fought for life and never lost their nerve—carry out your mission and keep your honor clean,” Mattis wrote.
“Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
