Few people have thought more deeply about the nature of war than McMaster

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

There are few people in the world for whom Max Boot has more respect than Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, the newly named national security adviser:

A man of integrity and intellect, he is a rare combination of soldier and scholar.

A history Ph.D., he is known as the author of the best-selling book Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam, which critiqued the failure of military brass to challenge the disastrous course upon which the Johnson administration embarked in Vietnam. As one might expect, he is known as a fearless truth-teller who is not afraid to offend to make his points, regardless of the personal consequences to his own career.

He is also known, however, for his combat exploits: As a young captain in the Gulf War, he helped defeat a larger Iraqi force in the well-known Battle of 73 Easting (named after a map coordinate). Later, as a colonel in command of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, he pacified the city of Tal Afar in northern Iraq in 2005, thus pioneering the counterinsurgency tactics that would later be applied across the country by General David Petraeus during the surge.

In more recent years, McMaster has become known for his prescient critique of the technological utopianism that gripped much of the armed forces starting in the 1990s. McMaster has consistently warned that no technological fix will ensure American battlefield dominance and that the lessons of the past have not been rendered obsolete by computer innovations. Few people have thought more deeply about the nature of war based both on extensive reading and personal experience.

It is hard to imagine anyone better qualified to become national security adviser.

Comments

  1. Bob Sykes says:

    On the down side, we now have a number of senior positions occupied by people whose professional careers consisted of fighting our wars in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. They are emotionally invested in these wars and will continue them. What we need is leadership who realizes these wars are unwinnable and who are willing to shut them down.

  2. Anon 12 says:

    That the neocon (and Israel firster) Max Boot and the traitor John McCain approve of McMaster (but hated General Flynn) is a bad sign, and indicates the neocons are still in control and need to be purged.

  3. Re: ‘Few have thought more deeply about the nature of war than McMaster’.

    I would rephrase that as few American soldiers have thought more deeply about the military tactical aspects of maintaining American resource thieving hegemonic war over other nations, than McMaster.

    When it comes to the conventional mainstream perspective of actual nature of war – a state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country – or peace — a state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended – who is a citizen of a country who has been at war for 224 out of 241 years; I would imagine someone who wanted to deeply enquire into war and peace would examine the root causes of war, ascertaining whether there is sufficient support for abolishing the root causes of war, and if so cooperating to do so; and/or how to restrict organized violence only to those who want to partake in its organized physical violence, I am unaware of whether McMaster has ventured into such intellectual enquiries, related to the ‘nature of war’.

    Depending on the response from McMaster to Notice re: Accused War Criminals in ICC Complaint: maybe I or we will soon find out.

    A copy of this correspondence shall be documented at eop-v-wip.tygae.org.za.

  4. FNN says:

    He’s also a member of the Russia-hating lobby,and the endorsement from Max Boot makes my skin crawl. Nothing post-Soviet Russia has done (excluding Chechnya-an internal matter)is remotely comparable to what US did to Iraq, Libya and Syria.

  5. FNN says:

    John Podhoretz calling for genocide:

    @DouthatNYT Thermidor is a good name for that site. Another good name: Liquidate the Kulaks.— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) February 17, 2017

    I guess he’s joking.

  6. Gaikokumaniakku says:

    “someone who wanted to deeply enquire into war and peace would examine the root causes of war”

    You might want to read William S. Lind.

    Also, everyone present might enjoy Lind’s recent proposal for free cities as a way to avoid war.

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