Gen. James Mattis was named on Thursday as the replacement for Gen. David Petraeus as the head of U.S. Central Command.

Kenneth Allard, a former Army colonel, said Mattis “is my ideal of the perfect warrior”, quoting Orwell’s famous line, ‘We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm’.

Although very well-read and a passionate student of war theory, Mattis also has something of the George C. Patton about him. On first arriving in Afghanistan, he told the media that war is

“a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people when you like brawling,” referring to the Taliban. “When you go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slapped women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”

As it happens, I do agree with George Orwell. I had a tobacco client many years ago whose marketing position was a front for SAS activities in Northern Ireland. I remember him once remarking that his group had “put the Tube bombers in shallow graves all around County Antrim, and then given the exact locations to the IRA. It was amazing how quickly the bombings stopped”.

The problem with American four-stars who are quite this gung-ho is that they make for wonderful Islamist propaganda. Still, the ‘let’s win the war and leave next year’ strategy is General Patraeus’ problem now. He has the hardest job on the planet.