March 23, 2018 10:24 AM UTC

They're Mourning McMaster In Colorado Springs

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Colorado Springs Gazette’s Tom Roeder reports on the local reaction to the sudden announcement yesterday that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was being replaced in his position by the controversial and brashly political former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. At Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, those who knew McMaster from his time as commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment have nothing but praise:

McMaster led the 5,200-soldier regiment of Colorado Springs troops through one of the biggest fights of the Iraq war in the 2005 battle of Tal Afar. The two weeks of combat saw one of Iraq’s most dangerous places converted to one of its safest as the regiment pioneered what would become America’s future strategy against insurgents with “clear, hold, build.”

“He’s the smartest guy I ever met in uniform,” said retired Command Sgt. Maj. John Kurak, who was a senior enlisted leader under McMaster during the Tal Afar fight…

“He can explain to young enlisted soldiers why its important for them to be that ambassador,” Kurak said. “Then he can become a statesman and have a conversation on a whole different level.”

McMaster in Colorado Springs could be fiery, especially when his motives were questioned. Kurak said that fire may have led to his downfall at the White House. [Pols emphasis]

The contrast between the hero of Tal Afar and John Bolton, a man who helped deceive the entire world into launching the war in Iraq on a false allegation that Iraq’s military was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, could not be more stark. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that one of the most level-headed and professional national security advisors possible is being replaced with one of the most hotheaded and unprofessional figures in American foreign policy. The overwhelming historical consensus that the Iraq war was a preventable mistake, and the American public’s rejection of the war that helped drive Republicans from power in 2006-08, makes the choice of Bolton today politically as well as practically a worst-case scenario.

And if Bolton’s appointment as national security adviser goes to hell, soldiers at Fort Carson could be the ones tasked with cleaning up the mess. Again.