American Greatness
Angelo Codevilla
Aug. 17, 2017
The question arises because of widespread allegations that President Donald Trump should be constrained, somehow, to bend his foreign and defense policy to the advice of Generals Mattis, McMaster, and Kelly, with whom he has surrounded himself. The answer transcends current controversies.
In 1862-64, the press had styled General George McClellan, “the young Napoleon,” and vilified Abraham Lincoln for spurning him. But Lincoln proved to know better than McClellan and nearly every other general of his time. In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur wanted to win the Korean war by breaking the alliance between China and North Korea militarily. President Harry Truman and his advisers thought it best to settle for stalemate. Today North Korea, still China’s pawn, threatens us with nukes. One need not elaborate examples to show the anodyne point that military experts should be followed only insofar as they are right.
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https://amgreatness.com/2017/08/17/presidents-follow-expert-military-advice/Despite the arguments this might spur, I agree with the thesis. Eisenhower refused to turn Vietnam into an American war because he knew what that meant. JFK's
Best and Brightest were far less wise. The Afghanistan and Iraq adventures were headstrong and brain weak. We know how to fight a war but not to what end.
