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Summary: WAGING MODERN WAR BY WESLEY CLARK
Review: General Clark has penned a fascinating account of how the military statesman builds a coalition with world support, receives the proper authorization through a(n) multi-national organization such as NATO and gains United Nations Security Council approval for a military action. The action in question stopped the slaughter of ethnic Albanians and provided humanitarian relief in the Balkans. General Clark cut his teeth working with our allies on the Dayton Peace Accords which brought peace to Bosnia. He used this experience in crafting the necessary political /military action in Kosovo. I am convinced that General Clark may have been the only leader who could have mastered the multi lateral and vertical chains of command and human contacts necessary to accomplish this mission. This was a miracle endeavor which saved many thousands of lives and serves as a lesson for those involved in future multi-national military operations.
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Summary: World Economics Will Dictate International Interdependence!
Review: General Clark has written an interesting book worth every minute of its reading. The book points out that regional economics will be paramount to any local political decisions. Nations with the most vital economic interests will call the shots with its geopolitical neighbors and faceless multi-national corporate entities. The author is in the forefront of teaching all Americans that future multi-national forces will be subject to future multi-national economic interests. General Clark recounts an incident when he was in charge of all forces in the region but was overruled by a British Commander permitting the Russia forces to land over his objections and counter to the orders he was given in Washington. In the end, Washington submitted to Britain in this case leaving Clark embarrassed and a figure head obviously out of the loop. The realization that multi-military cooperation will be dictated by policies in far away debates over cell phone communications will rule is inevitable and already here. Even fewer know that British Petroleum with huge discoveries of natural gas and oil in Central Asia needs important pipeline routes to send that gas to an energy starved Europe. Kosovo, Bosnia and parts of Turkey and former Republics of Russia are needed to promote and protect such future pipelines for clean burning energy. Other multi-national companies in oil will benefit to feed Europe's needs for economic growth. Oil and other multi-national corporations have influenced world politics since the 1870s. Although America had an isolationist policy free from foreign wars until 1898, Carnegie Steel (USS Steel), Standard Oil (Exxon/Mobil) and Westinghouse/General Electric actually created international markets for all their products. Electricity and oil fueled the industrial age and steel built the world. America could no longer stand by and just let world politics go on an unplanned course of unpredictable whims of fiefdoms. It is bad for business and bad business is worse for job seekers. Ever wonder why power plants, bridges transportation structures and steel auto plants were targets of the bombing? Soon all of the former Yugoslavia will be rebuilt to accommodate such economic interests that will supply new centers of power, rebuilt manufacturing plants and property redistribution to support new roads and pipelines on routes cheapest and easiest to be built. It could only happen after the political powers were replaced with new political leaders within Europe's economic sphere of influence for the hardihood interdependent future. Now General Clark points out that huge forces with poor preparation cannot succeed if extensive deaths occur or are impose on the economic enemy from such actions. Soon America will be part of a Multi-National Alliance of fast acting, overwhelming powerful military interdependent upon there cooperation consistent with international policies. A wonderful way to destroy, rebuild and influence any nation, region or sphere with minimal of causalities, victims and protests with universal approval as jobs are created and goods sold to new integrated customers for all to wet our beaks. Welcome to a brave new world of brave new weapons of war for the good of all instead of the dominance of the few, except in Board Rooms of Banks of course. Where even G-d can't decide over collective centralism of decisions. General Clark's book is just the first of many introductions to this brave new world of perfect skirmishes to benefit us all.
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Summary: A Tough Job in a Difficult Place!
Review: General Clark's book is a good narrative about his position as commander of US and NATO forces during Operation Allied Force. He talks about the difficulty of leading forces from numerous countries in a war that was barely being support from home. It is a good story about the difficulties that a general must face and that to truly be an effective leader, they must be more than just a good military commander.
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Summary: The trials and tribulations of coalition warfare
Review: General Wesley Clark has done an outstanding job of providing a blow by blow account of Operation Allied Force - the NATO effort to halt the genocide in Kosovo and oust the Serbian military and police units responsible for those atrocities. The blow by blow account, however, one can get from other books and articles written on NATO's first armed intervention since its founding. Where "Waging Modern War" shines is in Clark's thoughts and perspectives on waging war in close co-operation with other nations. It becomes painfully obvious that coalition warfare is not easy since one has to make constant compromises in order to please most of one's allies that might not have the same political agenda. In the case of Kosovo Clark did not only have to contend with the Italians, Germans, British, and, of course, the French but also his peers in the Pentagon. The fact that the Pentagon and the National Command Authority (Clinton and Cohen) could not agree on a common policy further complicated the air war against Serbia. This is once again an acute question when one hears the allegations of Rumsfeld and others taking the uniformed leaders of America's military for a ride in Iraq. The reviewer only has one true objection to this book - the lack of historical background. Clark spends few words on the origins of the Kosovo conflict. One day the Serbs are suddenly very angry at the Kosovo-Albanians and decide to forcibly remove them from Kosovo. That is weak. But the rest of the book is truly amazing. Rumour has it that Clark wrote this 450-page book in 4 weeks. I don't doubt it since this is clearly a modern warrior with large capacities for free thought and diligent work.
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Summary: Clark is my Hero...now
Review: I always wandered what really goes on behind the scenes - when two or more important head State figures talk.
I was wandering about so many other things relating to the 1999 war in my country Kosova - and thanks to the General Clark's crystal clear writing I have learned them all.
You'd just love this book - It tells us all WHAT A COURAGEOUS PERSON LIKE mr.WESLEY CLARK can really achieve...not less than
defeating one whole state and so many government policies JUST TO BRING PEACE AND LOVE TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD.
NO (COUNTRY)ONE IS ABOVE LAW OR BEYOND THE REACH OF THE JUSTICE thanks to people like Wesley Clark.
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Summary: Fustrated Reader
Review: I finished this book and was frustrated at the process we have now created for military action. Overall this is a very good book, which detailed the way NATO works, and the political issues involved in a military campaign. There was a lack of tanks in the street or Special Forces details one would expect with a review of a combat situation. The frustration I came away with is that we are putting our military forces in almost no-win situations where they need to be more of a police force then a combat force. Unfortunately, that is not the job of the U.S. Army. It is a good book and interesting. I would have liked a bit more detail on the actual combat.
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Summary: Timely Reading
Review: I had heard of Wes Clark when reading "The Long Gray Line" by Rick Atkinson, the story of the fabled West Point Class of 1966 where Clark finished first in his class with a Rhodes Scholarship. Given the recent events in the United States, "Waging War" is a very timely book. In particular, I was astounded by the way that the Pentagon micromanaged every move that General Clark tried to make. I am surprised that they didn't tell him how to use a knife and fork! It is obvious that General Clark was caught up in the power struggles of the Pentagon and the ambition of his colleagues-as well, he had NATO to command so I am not at all surprised that he was eventually replaced by one of the "Pentagon's Princes" in the form of Joseph Ralston who people recall missed out on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff following an adultery scandal. With the possibility of the US soon going to war, I hope that the military hierachy let their generals do their jobs without constant interference or else all the gains made in the military since Vietnam have been made for nought.
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Summary: He pulls his punches
Review: I have the impression that General Clark was pulling his punches because he hopes to get back in the game as a national security advisor. He is more academic than most generals and one wishes that the military could retain more of his caliber. He is very subtle in his critique of General Sheldon and Sec. Cohen. They were not the stratigists who helped Swartzkof like Powell and Cheney, they were hostile bureaucrats who scoffed at a war they could not understand. He has a very interesting and politically unrealistic idea that as CIN of the European command he holds a parallel command as NATO Commander that is outside of his US chain of command. That is what got him fired and he is not very candid about that either. The reader gets the sense that he is not trying to burn any bridges.
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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..
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Summary: A book I'll remember...
Review: I really can not recommend this book highly enough as it deserves so I better keep it short: Read it and you'll get to know what I am really talking about. Thank you MR.General for such a great contribution to the world. I/we are very proud to live in the same time and in the same world with people such as you are. It must be a great feeling to be a lifesaver.God bless you and all the peacemakers throughout the world.
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