Posted on 11/11/2020 12:57:38 PM PST by bitt
New acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller has hired a senior adviser who has frequently pressed for the quick removal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Defense Department confirmed on Wednesday.
Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor “will be serving as a Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense. Mr. MacGregor’s decades of military experience will be used to assist in the continued implementation of the President’s national security priorities,” a Pentagon spokesperson told The Hill.
Macgregor, a frequent Fox News guest and Trump’s failed pick for U.S. ambassador to Germany, numerous times in the past year has advocated for the United States to pull its forces from conflicts in the Middle East.
In a January interview with Fox's Tucker Carlson, MacGregor said only Trump would end the war in Afghanistan.
“He’s promised to do that a long time ago and he’s disappointed a lot of us because he hasn’t. He can stand up tomorrow and pull us out. But he needs to send everyone out of the Oval Office who keeps telling him ‘if you do that and something bad happens, it’s going to be blamed on you, Mr. President. He needs to say, ‘I don’t give a damn,’” MacGregor said at the time.
He has also said the United States should remove the U.S. Embassy from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Axios was the first to report on the hire on Wednesday, a move meant to help quickly withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East before the end of the Trump administration in January, three people familiar with the move told the news outlet.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
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20 Years is long enough. Time to get out.
This might explain the little spate of generals leaving.
But one can only wonder why they would have wanted our troops to remain in Afghanistan.
From the other thread, found a bit of interesting info on him. Both links have more if anyone wants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Macgregor
Douglas Abbott Macgregor (born January 4, 1953, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. Army Colonel (retired), author, consultant and television commentator.[1]
On July 27, 2020, the White House announced that President Donald Trump intended to nominate Macgregor to serve as the United States Ambassador to Germany.
Military career
Macgregor was the “squadron operations officer who essentially directed the Battle of 73 Easting” during the Gulf War.[2] Facing an Iraqi Republican Guard opponent, Macgregor led two troops or 19 Tanks, 26 Bradleys and 4 M1064 Mortar Carriers through the sandstorm to the 73 Easting at roughly 16:18 hours on 26 February 1991 destroyed almost 70 Iraqi armored vehicles with no U.S. casualties in a 23-minute span of the battle.[2] Macgregor was at the front of the formation in the center with Eagle Troop on the right and Ghost Troop on the left. Macgregor designated Eagle Troop the main attack and positioned himself to the left of Eagle Troop. Eagle Troop Scouts subsequently followed Macgregor’s Tank through a minefield during which Macgregor’s crew destroyed two enemy tanks. As Macgregor was towards the front of the battle involved in shooting, he didn’t “request artillery support or report events to superiors until the battle was virtually over, according to one of his superior officers.”[2] The risks he undertook “could have been criticized had the fight turned ugly.”[2]
At a November 1993 exercise at the Army’s National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, Lt. Col. Macgregor’s unit vastly outperformed its peers against the “Opposition Force (OPFOR).” The series of five battles usually end in four losses and a draw for the visiting units; Macgregor’s unit won three, lost one, and drew one.[2] Macgregor’s unit dispersed widely, took unconventional risks, and anticipated enemy movements.[2]
Macgregor was a top Army thinker on innovation, according to journalist Thomas E. Ricks.[4] He “became prominent inside the Army” when he published Breaking the Phalanx, which argued for radical reforms.[4] Breaking the Phalanx was rare in that an active duty military author was challenging the status quo with detailed reform proposals for the reorganization of U.S. Army ground forces.[5] The head of the Army, United States General Dennis Reimer, wanted to reform the Army and effectively endorsed Breaking the Phalanx and passed copies out to generals; however, reforming the U.S. Army according to the book met resistance from the Army’s de facto “board of directors”—the other four-star Army generals—and Reimer did not press the issue.[6] Breaking the Phalanx advocated that “the Army restructure itself into modularly organized, highly mobile, self-contained, combined arms teams that look extraordinarily like the Marine Corps’ Air Ground Task Forces”.[7] His article called “Thoughts on Force Design in an Era of Shrinking Defense Budgets” was published in Dado Center Journal (The IDF Journal on Operational Art).
Many of Macgregor’s colleagues thought his unconventional thinking may have harmed his chances for promotion.[2] While an Army NTC official called him “the best war fighter the Army has got,” colleagues of Macgregor were concerned that “the Army is showing it prefers generals who are good at bureaucratic gamesmanship to ones who can think innovatively on the battlefield.”[2] Macgregor was also seen as blunt, and to some, arrogant.[2] Despite Magregor’s top post-Gulf War NTC showing, his Army career was sidelined.[2] The summer of 1997 marked the third time the Army refused to put him in command of a combat brigade,[2] “a virtual death warrant for his Army career, relegating him to staff jobs as a colonel for the remainder of his service.”[3]
U.S. Ambassador to Germany nomination
On July 27, 2020, the White House announced Donald Trump’s intent to nominate MacGregor as U.S. Ambassador to Germany.[17][18] Following the announcement, MacGregor’s history of controversial remarks received media attention. He has asserted that Muslim immigrants (referred to as “Muslim invaders”) come to Europe “with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state”.[19] MacGregor has argued that the German concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, used to cope with Germany’s Nazi past and its atrocities during World War II, is a “sick mentality.”[19] MacGregor has also stated that martial law should be instituted on the U.S.-Mexico border and argued for the extrajudicial execution of those who cross the border at unofficial ports of entry.[19] Macgregor has also made statements in support of Israel having defensible borders, the annexation of the Golan Heights, and the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.[20]
Views on Russian annexation
In 2014, after Russia tried to annex Crimea and was engaged in a conflict with Ukraine over its eastern parts, Macgregor went on Russian network RT where he called for the annexation of the Donbass in accordance with the results of 2014 referenda and said residents of the region “are in fact Russians, not Ukrainians, and at the same time, you have Ukrainians in the west and in the north, who are not Russians[19][26] The 2014 referenda results are not officially recognized by any country, including the United States, Russia, or the members of the European Union.[27] The governments of Ukraine, the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have criticized the referenda as unconstitutional and illegitimate.[28]
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/kfile-douglas-macgregor-german-ambassador-pick/index.html
German ambassador pick disparaged immigrants and refugees, called for martial law at US-Mexico border
Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran, author and frequent guest on Fox News, claimed that Muslim migrants were coming to Europe “with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state.” He criticized Germany for giving “millions of unwanted Muslim invaders” welfare benefits rather than providing more funding for its armed services.
Macgregor’s newly unearthed comments come as the Trump administration announced it will withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from bases in Germany. The decision to remove troops from Germany was slammed by Republicans, Democrats and former senior military officials, who said the move would benefit Russia.
If Macgregor’s nomination is confirmed by the Senate, he would oversee a new diplomatic period in US-German relations, one that has reached new lows after reports that Trump bullied and berated German Chancellor Angela Merkel on state phone calls.
CNN’s KFile reviewed dozens of radio and television interviews with Macgregor and found he often demonized immigrants and refugees. He warned Mexican cartels were “driving millions of Mexicans with no education, no skills and the wrong culture into the United States, placing them essentially as wards of the American people.” He repeatedly advocated to institute martial law at the US-Mexico border and “shoot people” if necessary.
Trump was stopped from trying to exit Afganistán. Petty little criminals prolly didn’t want credit to go to Trump.
Good. He should order them all to be out by Christmas at the latest. Trump should also declare an end to the state of war with North Korea.
We no longer need to be in A’stan. It no longer serves a purpose.
Now get a new JCS Chairman.
Rare earth minerals.
Afghan mountains are full of them.
The Chinese are chomping at the bit to come in and get them. And the Chinese don’t care if Afghan girls go to school.
Good. Bring them home by christmas.
Good. He should order them all to be out by Christmas at the latest. Trump should also declare an end to the state of war with North Korea.
I’ll get flamed and roasted for this.
But no a withdraw from Afghanistan is maddening it opens up for the Russians,
Chicoms too swoop in if that weren’t enough Al Qaeda ISIS and the Taliban regime would also take over that could see bigger 9/11 style attacks, right on our soil with Pakistan and Iran also seeing the benefits. We need to stay course and fight on for victory I opt for President Trump to plan an extensive large military offensive of total war that forces the Taliban to surrender while gutting Al Qaeda and ISIS jihadists. In addition, the President must also inact crippling sanctions against the Pakistani regime.
Are you smoking dope? Give our foot hold of Asia to the Russians and the Chinese?
The Chinese are chomping at the bit to come in and get them. And the Chinese don’t care if Afghan girls go to school.
It would be a wonderful Christmas gift to the Chinese and the Russians you mean.
The Chicoms are allied with the Taliban regime Al Qaeda ISIS as is Russia too.
You risk Russia funneling advanced nuclear weaponry to the Islamic Republic of Iran by pulling out of Afghanistan you risk China Russia pushing us out of Central Asia you risk 9/11 style attacks, on American soil by pulling out.
That isn’t how the Chinese work. They are all over Africa, and not a shot has been fired.
The Chinese want their “stuff” and they will pay for it. They couldn’t care less about the Afghan people.
It would be a wonderful Christmas gift to the Chinese and the Russians you mean.
What does Afghanistan have that we want or need? I’ve read rare earths. Are there mines currently in operation? If not, what’s been holding them back?
I feel sorry for the female population of Afghanistan, but no matter how long we stay there, their lot will not improve unless the Afghans want it to. Women in Kabul were free to dress in western clothes in the 1960s. Trying to do that now will get them killed.
My only knowledge is two years spent in Afghanistan over a seven year period (2011 - 2017) ...
Time to let the Chinese deal with that mess - USSR had their time, US has had the last ~20 years - I’m looking forward to China get messed up next...
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