Posted on 02/21/2017 6:37:24 AM PST by RoosterRedux
In a July 14, 2014, interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Georgia, where Fort Benning is located, McMaster, then the base commander, said: "Some people have a misunderstanding about the Army.
"Some people think, hey, you’re in the military and everything is super-hierarchical and you’re in an environment that is intolerable of criticism and people don’t want frank assessments.
"I think the opposite is the case. … And the commanders that I’ve worked for, they want frank assessments, they want criticism and feedback."
That attitude was not always shared by his superiors, and it led to his being passed over for promotion to brigadier general twice, in 2006 and 2007.
On McMaster's third and last try, General David Petraeus – who at one point was also on Trump's candidate list for national security adviser – returned from Iraq to head the promotion board that finally gave McMaster his first general's star.
Then a colonel, McMaster was commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment that in the spring of 2005 captured, held and began to stabilize Tal Afar on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
The city was held by Sunni extremists, a crossing point between Syria and Iraq for jihadists who started as al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and morphed into Islamic State after he was killed.
McMaster's preparation of the regiment is legendary: He trained his soldiers in Iraqi culture, the differences among Sunnis, Shi'ites and Turkomen, and had them read books on the history of the region and counterinsurgency strategy.
It was a sharp change from the "kill and capture" tactics the United States had used in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003, and to which the Obama administration returned in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
Ping
General dissects U.S. approach to war in speech at USF
Among other concerns, McMaster conjured up Eisenhower by saying “the military-industrial complex may represent a greater threat to us than at any time in history.”
The reason, said McMaster, is the jockeying for defense dollars, which mean money for communities and thus gain political support from politicians in those communities.
“And so where are these investments going in defense right now?” he asked. “They are going into areas that involve really big ticket items, that preserves the large capital transfer to defense industries and continue to bolster employment.”
McMaster, who said he is “not criticizing any element of this,” added another element to think about.
The military-industrial complex, he said, “involves increasingly as well think tanks, and when you see studies that are produced about the future of war or studies that are produced about certain aspects of defense strategy, you ought to look to see who is funding it.”
Without naming names, McMaster ticked off a few case studies of why he believes the funding of think tanks matters.
“There is a think tank now, for example, that’s about to publish a report on the future of the Army, and it’s bankrolled by a defense firm whose business model is the integration of high technology capabilities and selling them to the Department of Defense,” said McMaster. “What do you think that answer is going to be?”
If you want an answer favorable to the Navy you ask the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA). If you want an answer favorable to the Army you ask Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) and if you want an answer which says the prefer solution is Air Force you go to Rand. For decades and decades and decades.
We all know this, but it is refreshing to hear someone in uniform and of high rank actually say it.
What does the HR stand for?
Trump in the past has expressed a willingness to engage with Russia more than his predecessor, Barack Obama.
So I suppose you can't recognize that Russia is an antagonist while attempting to engage with them at the same time? Donald Trump is nobody's fool. He's fully able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Herbert Raymond.
Then why is a RussIan spyship 30 miles off the coast of CT. Why does it feel like history with tanks at the Polish border?
I think Gen. McMaster worked for Gen. Perkins who commanded the 2nd Brigade, 3rd ID in the famous Thunder Run that broke the back of Iraqi resistance in Baghdad in 2003. Both had combat victories that will be studied for years to come.
Higher Reasoning.
"John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, would be asked to serve the administration in another capacity, Trump said."He has a good number of ideas that I must tell you I agree very much with," Trump said of Bolton, who served in Republican President George W. Bush's administration."
I truly wonder what office that will be.
An ambassadorship to Russia or China?
Replace Comey at FBI with Bolton? Bolton is a first class lawyer. Comey is self-serving and known to be.
listening to him speak, I am not that impressed. But the stories about him are impressive. If true, then he does become the man for the job if it is about building long term connections and relationships in the Mid-East, and frankly, from a geopolitical perspective, we are way overdue. Oil may have blinded us to the bigger picture about the “Arab Reality”. Now is the time to work to get it right in the Mid-East.
and if you want amything done, you go to the Marines.
amything = anything
Because, with Hillary no longer in the loop, Putin no longer can tell what we're REALLY doing via his grandkids hacking her bathroom server. He needs real spy infrastructure again.
Iowa’s Gov. Branstad has been named as China Ambassador, but hasn’t started confirmation process. Don’t know Russia’s.
This isn't either/or. Russia is both a threat/antagonist and a potential partner. We have interests, as do they. When our interests align with Russia's, we can and should work together.
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