Trump Chooses James Mattis for Defense Secretary

AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong

BELGRADE - Donald Trump, US President-elect, has chosen the retired Marine General James Mattis, an outspoken critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, to serve as his secretary of defense.

"We are going to appoint 'Mad Dog' Mattis as our secretary of defense. But we're not announcing it until Monday so don't tell anybody," Trump told a rally on Thursday in Cincinnati, the first stop on a post-election "thank-you tour;" Press TV reported.

"They say he's the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have and it's about time," he added.

Mattis, 66, served more than four decades in the Marine Corps. The retired four-star general, known as "Mad Dog" and the "Warrior Monk," had been involved in several key military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In November 2001, he led Marines that carried out a raid in helicopters on Afghanistan's...