Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo and the Future of Combat.

CLARK, Wesley K. [William Perry].

Item Number: 104733

New York: Public Affairs Press, 2001.

First edition of this essential reading for those who want to know how modern war is fought, and won. Octavo, original half cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed on the half-title page by the author to Secretary of Defense William Perry, “To Secretary Bill Perry, Whose brilliant leadership and insightful leadership helped America and NATO stand successfully for democracy and freedom, and against ethnic cleansing and tyranny in the Balkans. Thank you for your guidance and support, and for showing us what the true measures of statesmanship and vision must be! Wes.” Clark was sent to Bosnia by Secretary of Defense William Perry to serve as the military advisor to a diplomatic negotiating team headed by assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke later described Clark’s position as “complicated” because it presented him with future possibilities but “might put him into career-endangering conflicts with more senior officers”. While the team was driving along a mountain road during the first week, the road gave way, and one of the vehicles fell over a cliff carrying passengers including Holbrooke’s deputy, Robert Frasure, a deputy assistant Secretary of Defense, Joseph Kruzel, and Air Force Colonel Nelson Drew. Clark and Holbrooke attempted to crawl down the mountain, but were driven back by sniper fire. Once the fire ceased, Clark rappelled down the mountain to collect the bodies of two dead Americans left by Bosnian forces that had taken the remaining wounded to a nearby hospital. Following funeral services in Washington, D.C., the negotiations continued and the team eventually reached the Dayton Agreement at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and later signed it in Paris on December 14, 1995. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. An exceptional association.

In Waging Modern War, General Wesley K. Clark recounts his experience leading NATO's forces to a hard-fought and ultimately successful victory in Kosovo in 1999. As the American military machine has swung into action in the months following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it has become clear that the lessons of Kosovo are directly applicable to the war against terrorism and the nations that sponsor it. The problems posed, and overcome, in the war in Kosovo-how to fight an air war against unconventional forces in rough terrain and how to coordinate U.S. objectives with those of other nations-are the problems that America increasingly faces in the today's world. As the Los Angeles Times noted in late September of 2001, this book's "lessons are highly relevant now…. We need to think about exactly what steps will lessen, rather than increase, the terrorist threat. And we also need innovative commanders willing to improvise to meet a new kind of threat, more determined political leadership, a more flexible outlook in the Pentagon…. Gen. Clark has performed another service by highlighting these problems at a crucial moment in American history."