President Donald Trump has named U.S. Army lieutenant general H.R. McMaster to be his new national security advisor. The Monday afternoon announcement comes nearly one week after Mike Flynn was asked to resign from the job following revelations he had misled the White House on his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December.
McMaster will take on the role at a critical time for national security in a part of the world the general knows well: Northern Iraq. McMaster commanded the Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in 2005 when the division set out to take over the al Qaeda-controlled city of Tal Afar. In September of that year, McMaster’s own troops as well as Iraqi forces successfully expelled the enemy from the city. (You can read more about the taking of Tal Afar from this 60 Minutes report about the battle and McMaster, from 2006). Today, Iraqi forces are trying to take back Tal Afar from ISIS, which took control of the city in 2014.
