WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump today announced that he will nominate retired Marine general James Mattis , renowned for his tough talk and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be his defence secretary "We are going to appoint 'Mad Dog' Mattis as our Secretary of Defence," Trump told a cheering crowd at Cincinnati in Ohio in his first of the series of 'Thank You' victory tour. "But we are not announcing this till Monday, so don't tell anybody," Trump told his supporters in his characteristic way.Trump described 66-year-old Mattis as "one of our great, great generals. "General Mattis is a strong, highly dignified man. Trump told The New York Times in an interview. He said, 'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture," Trump said.

Source: Economic Times December 02, 2016 14:21 UTC