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Title: To End a War by Richard Holbrooke ISBN: 0-375-75360-5 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 25 May, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.79 (34 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: READ THIS if you're an American who doesn't know why we went
Comment: Holbrooke summarizes the events in the former Yugoslavia in a few hundred pages and gives some insight into an important American question: Why did we send troops over there, anyhow? The transformation of a foreign war into a "vital national interest" as defined in the--for example, I know the timelines conflict--1997 US National Military Strategy is one most Americans (myself included) never understood.
There are altruistic reasons to get involved, but that alone may not be enough to commit military forces that are in limited supply, when injustice is seemingly unlimited. There are regional security issues, but the former Yugoslavia was not of regional concern to the US. Rather the reason for our involvement (as described by Holbrooke) was principally that only America had the political and military clout to negotiate a peace settlement. While critics claim this as American ego, Holbrooke says the EU, while an excellent unifier of economic concerns, did not yet command concensus with regards to security issues and could not handle the problem without US involvement. In this book, Holbrooke relived day-by-day the story as it unfolded around him.
Anyhow, long story short...good book. Its value lies in describing a version of the US political mindset for involvement in Yugoslavia. And it explains why we sent troops there. Detractors of the book are that it gets a bit wordy, and that Holbrooke sometimes has trouble reigning in his State-Department-sized ego, a condition common around the beltway. Pretty good book; solid work.
Rating: 4
Summary: Arrogant, brash and biased- Holbrooke's loathsome legacy
Comment: Today's Bosnia-Herzegovina is not so much a functioning country as a living testimony to the modern America policy of nation-building, and the man who brought it about in the Balkans, one Richard Holbrooke. Forthright to the point of unbearable arrogance, Holbrooke was heavily involved in the final phase of the Bosnian War (1992-95) and the escalation of the Kosovo crisis in 1998. While he has not offered an account of the latter, his Bosnian experiences are detailed in a 1998 memoir, To End a War. It is a somewhat self-serving, pompous, ignorant, crass and in places painfully trite book, without a trace of modesty - false or otherwise - which nonetheless captures Holbrooke's perspective perfectly and offers invaluable insights into America's role in modern Balkans affairs.
...Holbrooke's sympathies are apparent from the very beginning. In 1992, he contacted the Bosnian Muslim envoy to the UN, Muhamed Sacirbey, "introduced myself as an admirer of his cause, and offered my support." (Chapter 3, p. 34) Writing to candidate Clinton that same year, he recommended him to "follow a more vigorous policy against Serb aggression" (Chapter 3, p.42) He cites with admiration Alija Izetbegovic's statement from February 7, 1991: "I would sacrifice peace for a sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina... but for that peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina I would not sacrifice sovereignty." (Chapter 2, p. 32)
At one point, when a British colleague warns him that ignoring Serb grievances was not wise, Holbrooke replied that, "The Serb view of history was their problem... ours was to end a war." (Chapter 7, p. 110) His opinion of the Serbs is spelled out later:
"The Western mistake over the previous four years had been to treat the Serbs as rational people with whom one could argue, negotiate, compromise and agree. In fact, they respected only force or an unambiguous and credible threat to use it." (Chapter 10, p. 152)
"Bombs for Peace"
With that in mind, and wanting to end the war, Holbrooke set out to orchestrate a NATO bombing of Serb positions, and encourage a Muslim and Croat offensive. In the spring of 1995, Croatian forces had violated the UN mandate in Western Slavonia and seized a pocket of Serb territory there within three days. During one meeting with Croatian officials in the spring of 1995, Robert Frasure - a senior US diplomat who soon thereafter died on the road to Sarajevo - handed Holbrooke a note:
"Dick: We 'hired' these guys to be our junkyard dogs because we were desperate. We need to try to 'control' them. But it is no time to get squeamish about things. (Chapter 6, p. 73)
Soon afterwards, Croats struck again in south-western Bosnia, and in August, launched an all-out assault on Serb-held Krajina. Hundreds of Serbs were killed, hundreds of thousands expelled in the largest episode of "ethnic cleansing" in the war.
After an explosion at a Sarajevo marketplace in August that killed a dozen civilians, Izetbegovic's government demanded NATO air strikes. Holbrooke pushed to oblige him; one of the reasons the bombing started, he claims, was "the strong recommendation of our negotiating team that bombing should take place regardless of the effect o the negotiations." (Chapter 7, p.103)
Bosnian Serbs and Belgrade offered immediate concessions to stop the bombing and end the war. Holbrooke refused to even consider the proposals, insisting on a platform he had previously negotiated with Izetbegovic (Chapter 9, p.134). In talks with Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Holbrooke "readily agreed [with Milosevic's accusation] - in fact, with a certain pleasure - that the bombing...had the effect of helping the Muslims and Croats." (Chapter 10, p. 147-8)
At one point in early September, however, NATO had run out of pre-selected targets, and the bombing was paused to Holbrooke's great displeasure. He made impassioned phone calls and pleas to his superiors and NATO, calling for the resumption of the bombing. "It helped that Izetbegovic saw I was fighting hard for something he desperately wanted..." (Chapter 8, p. 131)
In the end, Holbrooke's determined calls to "Give us bombs for peace." (Chapter 8, p. 132), were heeded, and a strategy was born.
Read the complete version of this review- and many more- at Balkanalysis.com
Rating: 5
Summary: A strong AMERICAN Diplomat
Comment: The right wing hysterics have spent so much time trashing Clinton and his Presidency that they overlook a salient point. Rarely has the United States been more respected overseas than during his Presidency. It wasn't perfect, but compared to the current group of clowns and a Secretary of State who is in internal exile, well ...
Holbrook has a big fat ego. Despite that, or maybe because of it, he actually accomplished one hell of a lot. He capped his career at the United Nations where he was better liked, more respected and more feared than Madelaine Albright. He would have made a great Secretary of State.
Colin Powell -- who has a different style and approach -- may in any event have the elements of another kind of great Secretary of State. But we'll never know. Because he works for a President who does not have a foreign policy and in an administration where obscure ideologues invent whacky theories.
When you see the one star ratings, don't worry. It's just the ghost of Jesse Helms who was offended because the UN had black employees.
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Title: Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat by Wesley K. Clark ISBN: 1586481398 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 06 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire by Wesley K. Clark ISBN: 1586482181 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation by Laura Silber, Allan Little ISBN: 0140262636 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999 by Misha Glenny ISBN: 0140233776 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm ISBN: 0814755615 Publisher: New York University Press Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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