Trump's Art of War: High-ranking US Retirees Sound the Alarm

"General Chaos", new nickname of Donald Trump, commander-in-chief of the most powerful army in the world: The Atlantic There is no dead hand on his next, to qualify the current tenant of the White House. In its November issue, the prestigious American magazine questions its military strategy, or rather wonders if it really has one.

Read the original article in The Atlantic: Top Military Officers Unload on Trump

In Mark Bowden's very comprehensive survey, some very high-ranking recently retired employees are showing for the first time how their working conditions have changed over the last three years. All four, with the exception of one, worked closely with Donald Trump. All had responsibilities of general or lieutenant-general in the different corps of the army. All evoke the many dangers his decisions weigh on the security of American troops deployed in war zones.

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Instinct rather than expertise

The US military usually shows restraint, writes the journalist, no question for the "great mute" to publicly question the decisions of the Head of State. But how to react when this one tweets a fake news? The case occurred on December 19, 2018, when Donald Trump announced on Twitter the withdrawal of US troops from Syria: "Our boys, our young women, our men, they all come back, and they come back now." "The State Islamic is defeated, "he said afterwards in a televised speech.

General Joseph Votel, then responsible for the U.S. Central Command, one of the four soldiers interviewed by the monthly, is not consulted. According to testimonials collected by the journalist, Donald Trump "rejects the careful decision-making process by the commanders-in-chief" and despises their expertise, the dominant feature of his leadership. The president has more faith in his instincts and information from Fox News to make his decisions. On the ground, however, the situation is quite different: the Islamic State has certainly been carefully dismantled in the last five years, but the terrorist group is not yet defeated. Worse, this early withdrawal may create a vacuum in the region. General Votel then makes an extremely rare decision: to contradict Trump in an interview with CNN.

A few days later, Donald Trump announced that part of the US soldiers will eventually stay in Syria alongside the international coalition, while refusing to admit that it is a reverse. For Mark Bowden, "this 180-degree turn has become a 90-degree turn. In the end, the main effects of Trump's tweet were to shake the confidence of allies and encourage both Assad and ISIS. "

Rich in examples, the survey lists a series of reversals that illustrate the disproportionate reactions of the White House host: from the drone attack in Iran, finally canceled a few minutes before its launch, to the displacement of three carriers. planes in the waters of the Korean peninsula, Donald Trump likes to play with fire.

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Confusion can trigger wars

If three of them preferred to remain anonymous, the four senior officers share the same impression: Trump considers unpredictability as a virtue. If the enemy does not know which foot to dance to, he is in a weak position. This tactic, the president has been using for several months with North Korea, multiplying the flip-flops, passing threats to declarations of love. But in the long run, unpredictability can become a problem. "In the absence of a coherent underlying strategy, uncertainty creates confusion and increases the risk of miscalculations," writes the monthly. Errors that are at the root of most wars, according to these same generals.

Paradoxically, the journalist's investigation highlights an outdated vision of the president vis-à-vis his soldiers. Since his arrival at the White House, they enjoy unprecedented impunity: the president has pardoned former lieutenant Michael Behenna, yet condemned for the murder of an Iraqi prisoner, and rehabilitated the head of special operations Edward Gallagher , accused of stabbing an ISIS teenager and killing civilians. A disturbing signal for one of the former generals interviewed: "Trump does not understand the warrior ethos supposed to transcend the laws of war and govern the behavior of soldiers." His conclusion is no more reassuring: "The most difficult, he could be president for another five years. "