Corgan in The Globe Post on Trump’s Generals
Michael Corgan, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was recently interviewed on the strong foothold of the military in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Corgan was quoted in an August 7, 2017 article in The Globe Post entitled “Generals Take Over Trump Administration — Not Without Consequences.”
From the text of the article:
Michael Corgan, Associate Professor of International Relations at Boston University, warned that it is completely wrong and self-defeating to think that once a war starts the politicians should get out of the way and leave things to the generals.
He told The Globe Postthat the situation in Iraq shows what happens if the Pentagon calls the shots.
“State was left out and the Pentagon had absolutely no plan for what to do after [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] was defeated and his forces checked on the battlefield. 14 years later we are still there with a mess on our hands and Iraq is farther from being a country than it has ever been,” he stated, noting that “It’s not so much civilian control over the military as it should be political control.”
Mr. Corgan underscored that the most senior military commanders must always be aware of the political dimensions of what they do. He quoted Prussian general and military theoristCarl von Clausewitz, who said “no one starts a war, or no one in his right mind ought to, without being clear what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.”\
Affiliated with Boston University since 1985, Michael T. Corgan has also served as Chairman of the Department of Naval Science and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Political Science and History. He specializes in American government institutions, international security studies, and Icelandic government and politics. He has participated in extensive government service in political and military planning (especially NATO). You can read more about him here.