Small Wars Journal

A Military Strategist for Trump’s NSC

Mon, 02/20/2017 - 10:23pm

A Military Strategist for Trump’s NSC - Wall Street Journal editorial

President Trump likes government by billionaires and generals, and on Monday he chose another one as his National Security Adviser in Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. This could be an inspired choice if Mr. Trump heeds his counsel and White House politicos don’t interfere.

The three-star general certainly won’t be intimidated by the bright lights of the White House. He made his early reputation as a tank commander during the Gulf War when his badly outnumbered unit cut apart Saddam’s armor like target practice. In the Iraq war he adapted to the al Qaeda terror campaign in the city of Tal Afar with counterinsurgency tactics that sought to win over the local population. His methods inspired the strategy that in 2007 would become the “surge” that staved off U.S. defeat in Iraq.

As for political warfare, his 1997 book “Dereliction of Duty” criticizes the high-ranking officers of the Vietnam era for not doing enough to challenge Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and LBJ. If Mr. Trump wants a yes-man who’ll merely salute White House aide Stephen Bannon, he has picked the wrong general. Lt. Gen. McMaster also has extensive experience at Central Command, which conducts operations in the Middle East, and a 20-month deployment in Afghanistan.

One question for Lt. Gen. McMaster, like all generals, is whether he can step out of his military background to become a foreign-policy strategist. With former Marine General Jim Mattis at Defense and retired Army General John Kelly at Homeland Security, the Trump security team is top-heavy with distinguished Pentagon brass.

But someone—and we don’t mean Mr. Bannon—has to plot and steer a strategy for reclaiming U.S. influence as China, Russia and Iran press to drive the U.S. out of what they consider to be their spheres of influence in Asia, Europe and the Middle East…

Read on.