Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. Army Europe, in Wiesbaden, Germany, June 14, 2012

In his articles for the conservative website The Bulwark and appearances on MSNBC, retired Gen. Mark Hertling — former commander of U.S. Army Europe — is often critical of President Donald Trump's foreign policy. And he isn't shy about saying that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, is woefully unqualified to lead the Pentagon.

Hertling zeroes in on two countries, Nigeria and Romania, in an article published by The Bulwark on November 4 — and argues that Trump and Hegseth are failing both countries badly.

"Last week, the Trump Administration made two major national-security announcements that, taken together, capture just a bit of its incoherence," Hertling observes. "First came word from the secretary of defense that U.S. forces would be withdrawn from bases in Romania — bases that anchor NATO's southeastern flank and project stability into the Black Sea region — because, as Pentagon officials put it, America must 'refocus on defending the homeland' and 'prepare for a future confrontation with China.' Then, only hours later, the president mused on social media that he might need to send American forces into Nigeria — Nigeria? — to 'protect Christians' from persecution."

Hertling continues, "As confounding and shocking as those statements were individually, together they imply something far more dangerous: a scattershot national-security process that lurches from one impulse to the next, untethered to strategy, alliance, or reality. You don't strengthen the homeland by pulling back from Europe's frontline. You don't deter China by announcing a religiously defined military intervention in Africa. And you certainly don't project global leadership by letting strategic whiplash substitute for deliberate planning."

Hertling is especially critical of Trump's "protect Christians" rhetoric in relation to Nigeria — as it sounds like he is threatening military action based on religion.

"The president's seemingly offhand suggestion to send troops to Nigeria to 'protect Christians' may play well to certain domestic evangelical audiences," Hertling warns. "But to anyone who has studied, served, or spent time in this region, it is strategically unsound and operationally unworkable. I've been to Nigeria both as a military officer and more recently as a civilian with a U.S. health care organization that was partnering with a medical facility in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. This is a dynamic, deeply religious country of more than 230 million people, divided roughly evenly between Muslims and Christians."

Hertling continues, "Additionally, Nigerians are overwhelmingly pro-American, proud of their democracy, and fiercely protective of their sovereignty…. To describe this as a campaign of religious persecution is to mistake the symptom for the disease. Which leads me to believe that any U.S. military intervention framed around 'protecting Christians' would not only misread the problem — it would inflame it. Nigeria's constitution — much like ours — forbids establishing a state religion."

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Hertling's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.