麦克马斯特将如何面对白宫内斗

When Lieutenant General HR McMaster enters the West Wing of the White House as the US national security adviser, the widely respected soldier and military historian will face one of the biggest challenges of his career.

当H?R?麦克马斯特(HR McMaster)中将进入白宫西翼办公楼开始担任美国国家安全顾问时，这位广受尊敬的军人兼军事历史学家将面临他职业生涯中最大的挑战之一。

President Donald Trump on Monday named Gen McMaster — a decorated three-star army general who commanded US troops in Iraq and also served in Afghanistan — to succeed Michael Flynn, who was fired after 24 days in the role. Mr Trump first asked Robert Harward, a retired admiral, to succeed Mr Flynn, but he offered the job to Gen McMaster after Mr Harward turned him down over concerns about lines of authority and staffing inside the White House.

上周一，总统唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)任命麦克马斯特接替在上任24天后被解职的迈克尔?弗林(Michael Flynn)。麦克马斯特是一位被授过勋的陆军三星将军，他不但曾在伊拉克指挥美军作战，也曾在阿富汗战场出力。特朗普原本曾请退役海军上将罗伯特?哈沃德(Robert Harward)接替弗林，但出于对白宫内部权力结构和人事问题的担心，哈沃德没有答应特朗普。接着，特朗普把这个职位给了麦克马斯特。

Gen McMaster is highly regarded inside the military. During the 1991 Gulf war, his troops destroyed a large number of Iraqi tanks in a battle that developed his reputation as a smart tactician. Over the past two decades, his peers have come to see him as a brilliant strategist — a reputation cemented by his role creating and implementing counter-insurgency operations during the second Iraq war.

麦克马斯特将军在军界名望极高。在1991年海湾战争中，他率领的部队在一次战斗中摧毁了伊拉克军队的大量坦克，此役给他带来了英明机智的战术家的名声。过去20年里，他的同仁们渐渐把他视为一位杰出的战略家。在第二次伊拉克战争中，他在发起和执行打击叛乱行动中所发挥的作用，为他巩固了这一名声。

In announcing that Gen McMaster would run the National Security Council and that Keith Kellogg, a retired general, would be chief of staff, Mr Trump praised them as a “tremendous” team. But one question that remains is how Gen McMaster will deal with the competing factions in the White House, particularly Steve Bannon, the political strategist who has been given an unusual formal role in the national security apparatus.

在宣布麦克马斯特将军将执掌国家安全委员会(NSC)、退役将军基思?凯洛格(Keith Kellogg)将担任幕僚长的消息时，特朗普称赞他们是一个“极佳”团队。但有个疑问仍然存在：麦克马斯特将军将如何跟白宫内立场不同的派别、尤其是史蒂夫?班农(Steve Bannon)打交道。班农是一位政治战略家，在国家安全机关中被授予了一个非同寻常的正式职位。

David Petraeus, the retired four-star army general who worked closely with Gen McMaster during the 2007 surge in Iraq, said his former subordinate was a “seriously high-quality guy” who had the organisational skills and the ability to navigate competing personalities and administration power centres.

曾在2007年对伊增兵时与麦克马斯特将军共事的退役四星上将戴维?彼得雷乌斯(David Petraeus)表示，他的这位前下属是个“素质极高的人”，具备组织能力，并且有能力应对人员勾心斗角、不同行政权力中心彼此较劲的环境。

“He is an exceptional strategic thinker and is a great team builder. He has superb organisational skills and has a wonderful enthusiastic attitude,” said Mr Petraeus, who was approached for the job but balked because of concerns about potential parallel security structures in the White House. “Obviously he knows what it is like to be on the ground and command soldiers in battle as a captain and a colonel. He knows when to keep his head down, but will not shrink from offering his forthright and well-considered assessments and recommendations.”

“他是一个杰出的战略思想家，是一个伟大的团队建设者。他具有卓越的组织能力，有着非常热情的态度，”彼得雷乌斯说。彼得雷乌斯也曾获邀出任该职位，但是由于对白宫内潜在并行的安全架构感到担心，结果他没有接受。“很显然，他知道在战场上指挥士兵作战该是什么样子。他知道什么时候保持低调，但他敢于提出他的直截了当、深思熟虑的意见和建议。”

James Stavridis, a retired admiral who was Supreme Allied Commander of Nato and US forces in Europe, also said Gen McMaster was a strong choice. “He is a superb blend of detail-oriented planner and highly creative thinker — an unbelievably rare combination in a senior military officer. He worked for me in Afghanistan and I found him terrific,” said Mr Stavridis.

曾任北约(Nato)盟军最高指挥官和驻欧美军司令的退役海军上将詹姆斯?斯塔夫里迪斯(James Stavridis)也表示，麦克马斯特将军是一个有实力的人选。“他极好地兼具了注重细节的规划者和创造力极强的思想家这两种特质——两种特质罕见地在一名高级军官身上结合到一起，令人难以置信。在阿富汗时，他在我手下效力，我发现他太棒了，”斯塔夫里迪斯说。

Gen McMaster is the first active duty military officer to be national security adviser since Colin Powell during the Reagan administration. Some experts believe this could impact his ability to do the job, particularly given the infighting inside the White House and an unclear chain of command. “As an active duty military officer, he has zero leverage in terms of selecting his own team,” added Mr Stavridis. “That will be his biggest challenge.”

麦克马斯特将军是自里根(Reagan)政府的科林?鲍威尔(Colin Powell)以来，第一位以现役军官身份出任国家安全顾问一职的。有些专家认为，这可能会削弱他履行职责的能力，尤其是在白宫内斗和指挥链条不清晰的情况下。“现役军官身份，会使他在挑选团队成员方面一点都说不上话，”斯塔夫里迪斯接着说，“这将是他面临的最大挑战。”

Gen McMaster is viewed in a similar light to Mr Petraeus, Mr Stavridis and defence secretary James Mattis, a class of warrior-intellectuals. He converted his PhD thesis into a book called Dereliction of Duty which argued that during the Vietnam war the joint chiefs of staff supported White House policies that they had privately said would not work. Supporters of Gen McMaster say he will not forget these lessons as he attempts to provide unvarnished advice to a president who has shown that he does not like criticism.

外界把麦克马斯特将军与彼得雷乌斯、斯塔夫里迪斯和国防部长詹姆斯?马蒂斯(James Mattis)视同一类人，都是军人知识分子。他将自己的博士论文改写成一本名为《玩忽职守》(Dereliction of Duty)的书。书中指出，在越南战争期间，参谋长联席会议(Joint Chiefs of Staff)支持白宫的政策，其实他们私下曾说过那些政策不会奏效。麦克马斯特的支持者说，当他试图向一位已表现出不喜欢被批评的总统提出坦率建议时，将不会忘记这些教训。

David Barno, a retired general who worked with Gen McMaster, says the decorated soldier brings an “out of the box” approach that has been informed by experience in war zones. “He is an unusual combination of muddy boots war fighter and intellectual,” said Mr Barno, adding that one former chairman of the joint chiefs made Dereliction of Duty mandatory reading for his top brass.

曾跟麦克马斯特将军共事的退役将军大卫?巴诺(David Barno)表示，这位被授勋的军人将带来一种从战地经验中学到的“打破陈规的”方法。巴诺说，“他是一个非同寻常的混合体，既是战靴沾满污泥的战士，又是知识分子。”他接着说，参谋长联席会议的一位前主席曾把《玩忽职守》列为他手下高级军官的必读书目。

Peter Mansoor, a retired army officer who served with Gen McMaster in Iraq, said his friend would remain “outspoken in his convictions”, adding that “he will be a forceful advocate within the walls of the White House for policies that he believes will work. He rejected suggestions that Gen McMaster being an active duty officer would curtail his ability to provide honest advice, but said his uniformed status might make him more willing to “salute and executive forcefully” once a decision was made.

曾在伊拉克与麦克马斯特将军共同服役的退役军官彼得?曼苏尔(Peter Mansoor)说，他的朋友将继续“直言不讳地表达自己的信念”，并接着说：“在白宫内，他将大力倡导他认为会奏效的政策。他驳斥了有关麦克马斯特身为现役军官将削弱他坦率建言能力的说法，但表示，他的军人身份会使他在一旦决定作出后更愿意“积极地称赞和执行”。

John Allen, a retired Marine general who served in Afghanistan and was deputy commander of US Central Command, described Gen McMaster as a “brilliant strategist” who was also a “very accomplished planner”, which he stressed was a rare combination. He said it was important that Gen McMaster would have the ability to bring in his own people when needed, but said the White House was increasingly in a position where it could not afford to antagonise serious people.

曾在阿富汗战场服役并担任过中央司令部(US Central Command)副司令的海军陆战队退役将军约翰?艾伦(John Allen)，形容麦克马斯特将军是“杰出的战略家”，同时也是一个“非常成功的策划者”——他强调这是一个罕见的特点组合。艾伦表示，麦克马斯特将军能否在需要的时候用自己的人这一点很重要。他还表示，白宫越来越承受不起让恪尽职守的人反感的后果。

“Steve Bannon has no authority over the national security adviser. Trump knows that and so does McMaster,” said Mr Allen, who was a candidate for a senior position in the administration had Hillary Clinton won the election. “I hope that Bannon figures that out quickly before we have a collision. Trump can’t afford to have a highly qualified person the likes of HR McMaster walk out of the White House because of confused or tortuous lines of authority.”

“史蒂夫?班农并不具备凌驾于国家安全顾问之上的权力。特朗普知道这一点，麦克马斯特也知道，”艾伦说。当初如果希拉里?克林顿(Hillary Clinton)赢得大选，艾伦会有望在政府中担任一个高级职位。他说：“我希望班农很快搞清这一点，以免我们发生冲突。如果因为纷繁复杂的权力结构而导致像麦克马斯特这样资历极其优秀的人离开白宫，那么特朗普可能是承受不起的。”