Ex-Trump Official Explains How Middle East Is More Dangerous For U.S. Troops Under Biden-Harris

Retired Lt. General H.R. McMaster, who served as the first national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, said he was concerned about the safety of U.S. forces in the Middle East because the Biden-Harris administration was unwilling to allow them to defend themselves adequately against Iranian aggression.

McMaster made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News’s “Face The Nation” with host Margaret Brennan when asked about the 40,000 troops that the U.S. currently has in the Middle East and whether there was a risk of miscalculation in the region that could cause “blowback to those U.S. forces.”

“What I’m concerned about is that those forces will be constrained in what they’re able to do in response,” he said. “I think what we have seen is a reluctance to act like we know what the return address is for this violence. And, of course, the return address is Iran.”

McMaster noted that Iran “is pursuing a strategy in which it is willing to expend every Arab life, every Palestinian life, every Lebanese life, in pursuit of its objective of destroying Israel.”

“Meanwhile, Iran is continuing to funnel weapons not only into Southern Lebanon, but to essentially a proxy army in Syria, into the West Bank,” he continued. “At the same time, Iran is racing to produce a nuclear device. So I think what we have to recognize is this horrible situation in the region that’s been going on for 40 years, right?”

He explained that the notion that Israel needs to de-escalate the situation was nonsense, considering how long they have been dealing with the current situation in the region.

“And I think that the narrative that you constantly hear about turning down the temperature, escalation management, the reluctance really to confront Iran directly and impose costs on Iran, that actually gives Iran license to escalate on their own terms with impunity,” he said.

WATCH:

Former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (Ret.) on the strikes overnight between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group amid fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East: pic.twitter.com/9zQ4c8fyGc

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 25, 2024