#extensive remarks

WASHINGTON | Mattis hails troops’ border mission as “very good training”

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended the use of active duty troops on the U.S.-Mexican border, saying that in some ways it provides good training for war. He argued that it’s analogous to a 1916 deployment to counter the Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on his way to visit U.S. troops along the border in south Texas, Mattis…