“Appropriate Dereliction” McMaster’s At It Again!

June 5, 2017–In case you thought I was too hard on Hal McMaster several weeks ago (“H.R. McMaster: Appropriate Dereliction,” May 17, 2017), here’s more–he’s at it again. Remember, by the way, that “dereliction” is his word, not mine. “Dereliction” is what McMaster accused the military’s top officers of doing when, during the Vietnam war, they hesitated to express their hard-nosed visions of reality to President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Today, General McMaster is doing the same, covering for our simpleton president instead of educating him. McMaster held that the Joint Chiefs of Staff were derelict in not resigning when LBJ kept to his own course. General McMaster today is also doing the same thing for which he accused the Joint Chiefs of dereliction. The word “appropriate” is also from McMaster. In his previous sally he excused the actions of President Donald J. Trump as entirely appropriate. Hence we have “Appropriate Dereliction” McMaster.

In a speech over the weekend to the “Global Forum” conference of the American Jewish Committee, General McMaster engaged in fantasy and articulated falsity. It is a fantasy to say, as “Appropriate Dereliction” did, that Israel and its Arab neighbors are on converging paths. McMaster and Trump may believe this is a moment of opportunity, but we will be unable to take advantage of any such chances if we misunderstand the national interests of the involved states and the global context which drives them. McMaster also asserted that President Trump, on a visit with NATO leaders, had reaffirmed United States support for Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which Trump did not do. Quoting Trump’s warm up before his denunciation of NATO allies as an affirmation is fake news. There is a reason why allies like Germany are running around questioning America’s steadfastness–and it’s not because Trump supports them. McMaster’s damage control effort is appropriate dereliction.

So is “Appropriate Dereliction’s” comment on Trump and the recent terrorist attack in London. Where the president is poking at British officials and using the incident as fodder for his own political goals, McMaster evades any reference to Trump’s major display and quotes merely the single statement of support the president made before misrepresenting the mayor of London. The United Kingdom is a NATO ally. How does Trump’s action square with Article 5? Appropriate dereliction again.

Seventy-three years ago today American and British troops–plus contingents from many nations that are now NATO allies, were in the middle of the English Channel, on their way to invade France, clear northwest Europe, and end World War II. The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved that mission. The architects of that operation and the postwar alliance would be aghast at the antics of “Appropriate Dereliction” McMasters.

 

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