New Boss, Not The Same as the Old Boss

For John, BLUF:  Mr Trump is a practical man and probably likes to cut to the chase.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Chickens coming home to roost: What Tom Donilon and Ben Rhodes hath wrought at the Obama White House

Where have I heard that expression before?

Oh well; moving along, it is Foreign Policy Magazine and Reporter and Author Tom Ricks.

Here is the lede plus one:

Thinking last night about how Donald Trump is especially picking generals dissedby the Barack Obama White House, it occurred to me that what we might be seeing is a national security establishment built in precise reaction to Tom Donilon and Ben Rhodes.  I am sure they are nice guys, but they also strike me as a semi-competent hack (Donilon) and an arrogant youth (Rhodes).  And so we are seeing a bevy of ousted generals appointed to top positions as the Trumpist response.

I don’t really blame this on Donilon and Rhodes.  They were simply tools.  I blame this on Obama, and on his propensity to turn foreign policy over to Biden’s posse of ill-informed, narrow-minded, militarily ignorant hacks.  I’m all for civilian control, but I also want civilians who don’t fire generals for speaking their minds privately.  That’s what you want: dissent inside the meetings to explore differences and examine assumptions.  That is how good policy is made.

There are links embedded in the original.

This critique only gets better as it rolls along, so read the whole thing.  Speaking of rolling, a friend of mine commented that "Tom Ricks is on a roll."

Regards  —  Cliff