The criticism was all the more remarkable because Mattis has generally kept a low profile since resigning in protest over Trump's Syria policy.
In an extraordinary rebuke, former defence secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump's heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests and said his former boss was setting up a "false conflict" between the military and civilian society.Former US secretary of defence Jim Mattis.
But he's speaking out after this past week's protests in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody.Mattis had a scathing description of Trump's walk to a historic nearby church on Monday to pose with a Bible after law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Park of mostly peaceful protesters.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us," Mattis wrote in a statement published by. "We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership."
Mattis called on Americans to "unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children." Mattis said of the protesters that Americans should not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. He said they are rightly demanding that the country follow the words of "Equal Justice Under Law" that are on display at the US Supreme Court.
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