While talking to reporters traveling to the Czech Republic, Secretary of Defense James Mattis had some choice words for the coward who attacked innocents and killed 11 yesterday as they peacefully worshipped in a Pittsburgh Synagogue. Sec. Mattis says the attacker is the "poorest excuse for a man anybody could come up with."
via Military Times:
“This individual — I won’t even call him a man — he’s the poorest excuse for a man you could ever come up with. Who would use a weapon in a house of worship, on unarmed innocent people and even shoot four policemen, then surrender himself,” Mattis said. “This is a coward. He is not a man by any definition that we use in the Department of Defense.”
Sec. Mattis also said he firmly believes that the military represents the best of America and of those work together civilly.
“The U.S. military — what I expect from our troops and what I see of them — is men and women working respectfully alongside each other, people who look at other people’s religion as a private matter to be respected,” Matis said. “The U.S. military, I believe, represents what it’s all about in America where you work together to solve things. But also in the U.S. military, our job is to protect this democracy. We’re devoted, focused like a laser beam, on that.”
Sec. Mattis also added that the shooting was difficult for "all of us who believe in freedom of religion as one of our most fundamental rights that our country was founded on."
Sec. Mattis is traveling to the Czech Republic "where he will meet Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and attend the Czech centennial celebration."