H. R. McMaster Quotes
War is uncertain, precisely because it is political and human.
Herbert Raymond McMaster, U. S. Army Major General, Director, International Security Assistance Force in the Afghan War, Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution., “The Pipe Dream of Easy War”, New York Times, July 21, 2013
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This observation was made when Commander-in-Chief for the 13 American Colonies, General Edward Braddock had organized a military expedition to destroy some of the forts that the French had constructed. (See {37008}.) Braddock and the other military officers thought that the force Braddock had organized what he thought would be overwhelming force that could easily accomplish the objective. But unfortunately for Braddock, Franklin was prescient, See {583428}.
King George did not want to give up the American Colonies and claimed the loss at Yorktown was just a loss of a single battle. The English soldiers had controlled New York, Charlestown and other places and American Tories wanted to fighting to continue. The French were having major problems elsewhere and the states were all broke from the war effort. Hamilton urged Clinton to offer all the New York offers and soldiers half pay tp be available to fight against the other ex-colonies represented in the Continental Congress.
He is one of very few high defense establishment figures to admit publicly what almost all say privately. Wars rarely run according to plan, and the complexity defies analysis and explanation even many years afterward.
Herbert Raymond McMaster is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as the 26th United States National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018. He is also known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
