William J Astore Capably Rebutted Major General H R McMaster’s Superficial New York Times Article — about The Pipe Dream of Easy War — with the Penetrating Dismissal that It Deserves

© 2013 Peter Free

 

27 July 2013

 

If you want to read silly pap — read material generated by the majority of high-ranking officers

 

For example:

 

H. R. McMaster [US Army Major General], The Pipe Dream of Easy War, New York Times (20 July 2013)

 

William J. Astore’s rebuttal

 

Former Lt. Colonel Astore obliterated McMaster’s uninsightful pablum — incidentally making McMaster’s argument noticeably better than the General himself did:

 

 

McMaster made three points about America’s recent wars and military interventions:

 

1. In stressing new technology as being transformative, the American military neglected the political side of war.

 

2. [T]he U.S. military neglected human/cultural aspects of war and therefore misunderstood Iraqi and Afghan culture.

 

3. Enemies can and will adapt.

 

[T]he sum total of McMaster’s argument is remarkably banal.  Yes, war is political, human, and chaotic.

 

[H]here are three of my own “lessons” in response to McMaster’s.

 

1. Big mistakes by our military are inevitable because the American empire is simply too big, and American forces are simply too spread out globally, often in countries where the “ordinary” people don’t want us.

 

To decrease our mistakes, we must radically downsize our empire.

 

2. The constant use of deadly force to police and control our empire is already sowing the deadly seeds of blowback.

 

3. We can’t defeat the enemy when it is us.

 

These articles never question the wisdom of American militarization, nor do they draw any attention to the overweening size and ambition of the department of defense and its domination of American foreign policy.

 

William J. Astore,  The US Military's Limited Critique of Itself Ensures Future Disasters, TruthOut (26 July 2013) (paragraphs split)

 

 

Military pseudo-intellect

 

General McMaster cloaks his argument in trendy military superficialities.  His is the kind of “wannabe” academese that most high-ranking military writers now have a penchant for.

 

The military prides itself on promoting people who can spout this kind of easily penetrated nonsense.  It is as if these folks get their advanced degrees, without grasping the critical thinking that the degrees are supposed to instill.

 

 

Astore’s critique is essentially the same as former Army colonel Andrew Bacevich’s and mine

 

If one conceitedly bites of more than one can chew, one chokes to death.

 

 

The moral? — There is a difference between intelligent acuity and blathering blowhard-ism

 

If we are too dim-witted to understand (a) Reality and (b) the necessity for wisely chosen geopolitical strategy to meet it — we will always be making mistakes that cost hundreds of thousands of other people their lives.

 

And the United States will decline faster than it otherwise would.

 

I suspect that General McMaster’s take on the situation will prevail.  Looking good in the United States is always preferred to being good.  And personable mediocrity almost always triumphs over smarts.