Marine Lt. General James Mattis has been chastised in the press this past week for his controversial statements about the battlefield in Afghanistan. He said that it was just fun to shoot certain people, and by “people” he meant men who beat women for not wearing a veil. Personally speaking, there are a whole bunch of people I encounter on a daily basis that seem like they would be pretty fun to shoot and for far less noble reasons than Lt. Mattis cited.

For instance, people who stop on the stairs at the English building because they have to call someone on their cell phone before anyone spots them walking alone seem pretty fit for a death bag. Other people I would delight in killing include those who cut me off in traffic, Leelee Sobieski (who you may remember from such cinematic gems as Here on Earth and The Glass House), and people who dress weird on purpose and then look at me like I’m the weird one.

Some might say there is a difference between my homicidal fantasies and Lt. General Mattis’s comments because he has been issued a gun and gets paid for killing people. It seems as though society respects what soldiers do as long as the soldiers don’t like doing what they have to do.

It is obvious that the comments Lt. Mattis made were not sensitive, and he probably shouldn’t have said them in a public forum. It may send the wrong message out to the Muslim world: that we are out to change their way of life. That’s not what the war in Afghanistan was supposed to be about.

Because of his position as commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Virginia, some are worried he may give his subordinates the wrong message as well. However, given their context I’m glad that the Lt. General isn’t going to receive any punishment.

I would have felt a little uneasy if he had said “It’s just fun to torture some people” or “It’s just fun to put holes in Afghans, and I’m not talking about blankets” and then laughed hysterically. But I find Lt. Mattis’s comments refreshingly honest, and I agree with what he said. Men who force women to wear what Bill Maher calls (and what essentially are) beekeeper suits need to be stopped, and if that means shooting them and lovin’ it, then so be it.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties group, announced to the Pentagon their wishes that Lt. Mattis be punished. Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of CAIR stated, “We do not need generals who treat the grim business of war as a sporting event…These disturbing remarks are indicative of an apparent indifference to the value of human life.” However, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said of Mattis, “His actions and those of his troops clearly show that he understands the value of proper leadership and the value of human life.”

No one disputes that Afghanistan harbored al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for 9/11. Like those who force women to wear veils against their will, members and supporters of al-Qaeda deserve to die. I have never killed anyone or even shot a gun (being a feminist I am not allowed to apparently), but I can see how Lt. Mattis would find pleasure in it. What can I say, the man loves his work.

I myself was more shocked and offended by Lt. Mattis’ atrocious grammar than by his actual statement. “Guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway, so it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.” I think what he meant to say is guys like that ain’t got any manhood left, but whatever, I’m a rhetoric major so I have to know these types of things.