Dateline Jerusalem — President Trump is scheduled to release a new U.S. national security strategy today.
Last Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster gave a speech laying out some of its components in a speech in Washington.
The speech was notable because he laid out a host of policies that Mr. McMaster himself has reportedly opposed since he was appointed to his position in February.
Mr. McMaster for instance has been open in his opposition to linking terrorism with Islam. He has also reportedly insisted on limiting U.S. actions in Syria and Iraq to defeating Islamic State. Mr. Mr. McMaster reportedly fired his deputy for Middle East policy Derek Harvey last summer due to Mr. Harvey’s advocacy of combating Iran’s consolidation of control over Syria through its proxies President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah.
In his speech on Tuesday, Mr. McMaster embraced the policies he has reportedly opposed. He discussed at length the threat of what he referred to as “radical Islamist ideology.”
That ideology, which the U.S. had previously interpreted “myopically,” constitutes “a grave threat to all civilized people,” he said.
Mr. McMaster regretted U.S. myopia noting, “We didn’t pay enough attention to how it’s being advanced through charities, madrassas and other social organizations.”
Mr. McMaster fingered Turkey and Qatar, two ostensible U.S. allies, as the main sponsors and sources of funding for Islamist ideology that targets Western interests.
He noted that in the past Saudi Arabia had served as a major sponsor of radical Islam. But Riyadh has been replaced by Qatar and by Turkey, he said.
Mr. Trump’s electoral victory raised hopes of his supporters and some of his advisers that the U.S. would designate the Muslim Brotherhood has a terrorist organization. The Brotherhood has spawned multiple jihadist terrorist groups including al-Qaida and Hamas. President Recep Erdogan’s AK Party is a Turkish version of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Whereas Mr. McMaster reportedly opposed those calls, and his opposition played a role in Mr. Trump’s avoidance of the designation to date, Mr. McMaster took a significant step on Tuesday toward designating the Brotherhood a terrorist group.
While stipulating that not all Muslim Brotherhood groups are alike, Mr. McMaster said there is a “big problem when Islamist radical ideology bridges into political Islam.”
Talking Out of Both Sides?
He criticized the short-lived Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt and singled out Qatar for its support of “the Morsi model.”
He also noted that Turkey’s ruling AK Party operated through civil society to “consolidate power through one party.” He then said that the AKP’s consolidation of power “is a problem contributing to Turkey’s drift from the West.”
Mr. McMaster referred to Iran as a “rogue regime and a revisionist regional power.”
He said the U.S. must “counter destabilizing [Iranian] activity, especially in Syria.”
Among other things, he said this includes blocking Iran’s path to nuclear weapons and blocking support for Iran’s proxies.
The problem with Mr. McMaster’s speech and the policy paper it set the stage for is that it is hard to know if they reflect an actual change in policy.
Certainly his position and general drift haven’t been reflected in U.S. actions in several key countries last week.
The day after Mr. McMaster’s speech the US Embassy in Beirut announced delivery of another $120 million in military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
As Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has repeatedly stated, the LAF is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps controlled directly by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese proxy army.
The Hezbollah-controlled LAF is the fifth-largest recipient of US military assistance worldwide.
According to Ambassador Elizabeth Richard, the LAF has received in excess of $1.5 billion in military aid over the past decade.
The newest arms shipment will include six MD 530G light attack helicopters, six Scan Eagle drones, and communications and night vision equipment.
Earlier shipments this year included Hellfire missiles, M1A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, rocket-propelled grenades, carbines and ammunition as well as helicopters, fighter jets, drones, advanced night vision and communications equipment.
Iran Is in Charge
Recently, Iran has become brazen in asserting its military control over Lebanon. A YouTube video posted last week portrayed Kais al-Ghazali, an Iranian-controlled Iraqi militia commander, standing 200 meters from Lebanon’s border with Israel. He and his colleagues were all wearing military uniforms.
Ghazali declared, “I am here with my brothers from Hezbollah. We announce that we are fully prepared and ready to stand as one with the Lebanese people with the Palestinian cause.”
If the LAF is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran-Hezbollah, the Lebanese government is Iran’s satrapy.
Through Hezbollah, Iran controls every aspect of governmental activity.
In an attempt to force the West to recognize that basic truth, last month Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad summoned Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Riyadh. Hariri’s father, former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated by Hezbollah in 2005.
In Riyadh, an ashen-faced Hariri announced his resignation, acknowledging that Iran controls both his government (and him) and the LAF.
Hariri’s resignation was a great loss for Iran-Hezbollah and Western countries that do not wish to acknowledge the obvious. And so, represented by French President Emmanuel Macron, the West joined with Iran to demand that Hariri return to Lebanon.
The Saudis obliged. Hariri returned to Beirut and rescinded his resignation.
Hariri was embarrassed by Ghazali’s video. So Iran’s satrap denounced Ghazali and said his “activities of a military nature” 200 meters from Metulla were illegal.
He also insisted that his satrapy “is not a banana republic.”
Ahead of the U.S. Embassy’s announcement of the new tranche of military hardware going to the Hezbollah- controlled LAF, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made clear that the Trump administration continues to view the LAF and Hariri as positive bulwarks against Iran and Hezbollah. Tillerson met with Hariri in Paris. After their meeting, Mr. Tillerson praised the French government for pressuring Saudi Arabia to permit Hariri to return to Lebanon where he could continue to pretend that he isn’t controlled by Iran.
Rather than shake their heads at the irony of Hariri becoming the servant of the forces that murdered his father, the Trump administration embraced the absurd lie of Lebanese independence.
In recent weeks, members of Congress have expressed anger at statements by both U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that indicated the administration is not requiring Qatar to stop funding Hamas.
Lawmakers sent separate letters to Ms. Haley and Mr. Mnuchin requesting clarification of the administration’s position. Whereas the administration informed Congress it continues to view Hamas as a terrorist group and demands Qatar end its support for Hamas, the administration’s diffident approach to Qatar has raised eyebrows.