Rating: 
Summary: Coercive Diplomacy and Kosovo
Review: "Waging Modern War" is former Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark's reflection of Operation Allied Force. He opens the book with his appointment as the Director of Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff. In this capacity he was introduced to Balkan issues and participated in the Dayton Peace Accord negotiations. The remainder of the book is dedicated to his tenure as the dual-hatted position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the US European Command Commander where he was responsible for the planning and execution of Operation Allied Force.
The most compelling portion of the book was his discussion of the role of NATO in European issues and United States' diplomatic actions in resolving the genocide in Kosovo. Ultimately, he outlines how the United States and NATO's inability to produce a cohesive Serbian strategy, the misapplication of military force, and inconsistent assessments of the strategic situation were directly responsible for the problems encountered in Operation Allied Force. He describes how our coercive diplomacy policy towards Milosevic migrated across the diplomatic spectrum when General Clark writes, "events proceed from diplomacy backed by discussions of threats, to diplomacy backed by threats, to diplomacy backed by force, and finally to force backed by diplomacy" (p. 457). Eventually, a workable solution was reached but only via a less than desirable means and inefficiently applied.
He writes with an uncomplicated style and does not overuse complex military jargon. He includes a list of abbreviations to help readers through the military prose. His cast of characters is an outstanding reference which provides the person's official position and the time they held that office. The paperback version, released in 2002, includes a preface not included in the hardcover edition. His preface provides General Clark's thoughts on international military affairs in a post-Sept 11th world. The timely addition is a valuable enhancement and helps frame his argument for the role of military force in diplomacy.
This book is not for readers looking for technical analysis of the actual war. It deals with the commander's cogitation of the strategic planning and prosecution of Operation Allied Force. It uses this event to discuss the impact it will have on future limited wars, the issue of diplomacy and the use of military force as an instrument of national power, and warfighting in a coalition environment specifically examining NATO. There are a number of lessons to be drawn from our actions in Kosovo, and while not directly applicable in all future situations, General Clark does an excellent job summarizing them in his conclusion. These lessons are deep questions about how a nation balances the need to project its will for the maximum effect against the desire to accomplish this in the lowest cost terms possible. A discerning reader will find the basis of this book is General Clark's views generated from his firsthand experiences and should be balanced with an unbiased or dissenting opinion to be more meaningful. General Clark's persuasive argument is extremely relevant today.
I recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The lessons of Kosovo
Review: "Waging Modern War," by Wesley K. Clark, is an account of the 1999 NATO military action in Kosovo from the perspective of the author, an American army general who oversaw the operation. Clark notes that this book is "a personal memoir" and is not intended to be "a complete record of the war." Included as supplemental features are a "Cast of Characters," with descriptions of over 60 individuals from the international group of people involved in the story; a list of the abbreviations used; a map; and an index.
This is a gripping text that, at times, I found very difficult to put down. It's a fascinating look at war from the perspective of a general near the very top of the chain of command. Among the many issues Clark touches on are the following: the complexity of dealing with an international military alliance; humanitarian concerns; relations between military and civilian officials; and the role of the media. He touches in particular on the complexity of his "double-hatted" role in both the NATO and U.S. military structures. He also discusses some of his life before the Kosovo crisis.
Particulary interesting are his memories of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, whom Clark describes early in the book as "a supremely manipulative liar and bully." Milosevic emerges as a wily, fascinating true-life villain. Equally noteworthy is Clark's account of his working relationship with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, a former Spanish government minister. Clark shows how personalities, as well as terrain, tactics, and weaponry, impact a war.
This is a lengthy (479 plus XLV pages) and dense text; Clark hits you with a blizzard of facts, names, and acronyms. The book may be daunting to general readers, but I believe that those who take the time to read it carefully will be rewarded. "Waging" is not just a memoir, but also a theoretical work on modern war using the Kosovo campaign as a textbook example. As the Iraq war continues and people speculate on what future wars could embroil us, I believe that civilian and military leaders could benefit from the knowledge and insights in this important book.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent book by a great general
Review: A magnificent book that shows how one of the best generals the USA has produced since World War 2 fought the last conflict in Europe of the 20th century -and an essential guide on how 21st century war should be fought. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
Rating: 
Summary: I don't sell many of my books...
Review: but this one I had no trouble parting with. I purchased this book shortly after it was released, long before General Clark made his bid for the Democratic nomination. I've tried to complete it twice, but cannot bear to finish it. It's just too much celebration of General Clark and not enough discussion of events in his life or the the context of those events. It's a dissapointment , because General Clark is obviously intelligent, and has the resume to provide an interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Clark ordered the use of cluster bombs over civilian areas, used depleted uranium bombs and presided over the terror bombing of cities (bridges, electrical grids, power stations, TV stations, hospitals, etc.). Most people would call him a war criminal. For him to write a book about it is disgusting.
Rating: 
Summary: Some defects in the book by NATO's Supreme Commander
Review: Gen. Wesley Clark's book primarily describes events associated with the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia for 78 days in 1999. It is an easy read, no challenge because of vocabulary, footnotes, references, ideas, concepts or military strategy. He discusses in detail his conversations with many individuals and includes their quotes verbatim, as if there were transcriptions from a tape recorder. Did he have the approval of all to do so? Or is it just an author's liberty and style in presenting personal views of an historical event? The fact is that NATO, a defensive alliance of 19 Nations, with not a single one under attack, waged what Gen. Clark now calls a war, perhaps so that he can claim a victory. In earlier circumstances he referred to the events as "coercive diplomacy" (Brookings Institution, 2000). Others refer to them as humanitarian intervention which saved the credibility of NATO. But as history, this book should be considered as an attempt to exculpate its author from charges of poor performance or worse. He talks about disputes with his leaders at the Pentagon on the selection of targets, use of ground troops, APACHE helicopters etc. As Supreme Commander of NATO he did order his forces to commit what are war crimes. This included the deliberate bombing of primarily civilian targets, such as bridges far from Kosovo, petro-chemical plants releasing huge amounts of dangerous chemicals into the environment, the use of CLUSTER bombs against a civilian population and dropping of unexploded ordnance into pristine National Forests and the Adriatic Sea. Flying at 15,000 feet led to incorrectly identified targets so civilians became not just collateral damage but main targets. Gen. Clark lightly and incompletely discusses these events and fails to discuss the International Conventions which his NATO led forces violated. Lastly and most surprisingly, he omits any reference to what can be considered a primary reason why the diplomatic efforts by the International Community failed at Rambouillet in early 1999. That Agreement's Appendix B, if it had been accepted, would have authorized NATO to occupy ALL of Yugoslavia not just Kosovo (See item 8). He states on page 162: "My staff and I were involved in drafting the military agreements for the Rambouillet negotiations, for which we used the Military Annex of the Dayton Agreements as a model...". If he was so intimately involved, does he think a sovereign nation should have agreed when the only geographic region of conflict and contention was that of Kosovo, internal to Yugoslavia? In spite of these criticisms, I enjoyed reading this book because it documents how US foreign policies are failing diplomatically so that we must call upon the military to resolve them. Said more bluntly, the military is called upon to clean up the messes into which our politicans have led us. Such abuse of the military does not serve well our national interests, especially on the international scene. The bungling of Bosnia is now coming to light and the after-effects of the Kosovo intervention will be felt for many years.
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Summary: General Clark - "World Citizen"
Review: I read this book about 12 months ago and found it to be very educational. I came away with a very good working knowledge of NATO and the intricate machinations that the SACEUR must engage in to get any results while working with NATO. The explanation of the conflict in Kosova and the details regarding the 3 groups of native combatants were excellent. I never really understood the entire BOSNIA/KOSOVO/BALKANS conflict; but after reading the book I have a much better grasp of the fundamentals. The book does make a compelling argument against NATO and the United Nations (although that was not the intention of the author). It seems to me that Clark views himself as a "WORLD" citizen first and an "American" citizen second...kind of a scary thought coming from a high ranking American Military Officer!! I personally find that both the UN and NATO are anti-American. Overall however, this book is a decent read and I believe that it provides a glimpse of Wes Clark from his own self promoting, ego-centric perspective. It also should serve as a warning for why the United States must NEVER surrender its power or sovereignty to ANY group..
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: I went in to this with a high regard for General Clark, and I have even more respect for him now. While some reviewers (and here I have to say that I'm a liberal democrat, so I understand) were threatened by the amounts of times the word "Sir" occurs, I have to say that General Clark is the type of guy that merits respect, even from those who have probably never addressed anyone as "Sir." This is a highly readable account of his tenure as SACEUR and his background. I neither found it to be appologetic, nor covering for his accounts, as another reviewer suggested. I'm guessing these other reviewers have zero experience with the military, and it could be off-putting to someone who doesn't inherently understand the respect, pride and esprit de corps that is part and parcel of our armed forces. I think General Clark should be our next president. He'd certainly do alot better than alot of people whom have tried to be leaders, and have only lead our country by the nose into a downward spiral--squandered trillions in budget surplus, and made a shambles of diplomacy--CLARK in 2004~~!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly written but his own words...
Review: Only a short way into this book, I quickly realized General Clark wrote the book himself without the help of a ghost writer. It appears he also lacked the help of a good editor. The story jumps around from thought to thought without solid editorial orginization. Aside from the poor organization of the book, the content has some shortcomings as well. It is extremely self serving and bears little objectivity. I found it disturbing to read that Clark viewed his role as Commander of NATO more seriously than his role as a United States Army Officer. He does not atempt to hide the fact that he entered the US into a war directly against the wishes of his civilian superior. This book makes it clear why Secretary Cohen and General Shelton are not supporting his bid for President and question his integrity. Due to his presidential bid this book is being removed from the Army's Command and General Staff reading list. This is unfortunate despite its poor style because the book serves as a cautionary tale of the possibility to abuse the powers currently resting in the US military unified command structure.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Very Readable
Review: The author presents a personal accounting of his time as SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe). Clark's writing style is very easy to read -- you don't need to be a military expert to understand him. This account is chronological, even sometimes hour-by-hour, and reports on how we got into a war in Kosovo, and why certain key decisions were made. You will be amazed at the revelations Clark makes about Serbian security and intelligence capabilities, Milosovic's character (or lack thereof), tensions within NATO, and the complexities of US military operations. I could hardly put this book down. Sometimes, however, the book reads as a personal defense. He often blames problems with negotiations or operations on higher-ups, or on inherent structrual problems with the SACEUR position. Any reader should know that many people in the military do not view Wesley Clark with high esteem, and blame many of the problems during Kosovo specifically on him. I personally found Clark's version of events generally believable, but I wait for history to pass the final judgement.
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