Lessons Learned?

ARTICLE: Lessons From Dayton For Iraq,
by Richard Holbrooke, Washington Post, April 23, 2008, Pg. 21

SARAJEVO — Twelve years ago, the guns in Bosnia fell silent after a war that killed at least 100,000 people and left more than 2 million homeless. Since then, the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement has often been suggested as a model for other peace efforts in countries with deep ethnic or religious differences. Bosnia’s “federalism” structure has been cited, especially by Sen. Joe Biden and former Council on Foreign Relations president Les Gelb, as a possible model for Iraq.

But the world has more or less turned its back on Bosnia itself. I returned to see how things were going. What I found has relevance to many other areas, including Iraq.

The core objective. Grade: A+. ..…. Our primary goal was to end the war — once and for all. Twelve years later, that objective has been fully achieved, at a cost of zero American and NATO lives.

Lessons for other countries: No agreement is worth much if it is not vigorously implemented and enforced. Political arrangements must reflect historical and ethnic realities. A unitary state with a strong central government may work in France or Japan, but not in Bosnia — nor, I believe, in such places as (to choose from many) Iraq, Afghanistan or Sudan. There (as in the United States, Germany and India), power must be shared between the central government and the states or provinces. The United States must recognize this in Iraq.

TV Military Analysts – Objectivity Questioned

ARTICLE: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand, By David, Barstow, New York Times, April 20, 2008

The Pentagon has cultivated “military analysts” in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the Bush administration’s wartime performance.

“…The rules are simple, folks: If you work for a defense contractor, run a defense “consulting” firm or collect a check for sitting on a defense-industry board, you’re tainted.” Ralph Peters, columnist, retired US Army officer.

What Price Freedom?

Washington Times, August 16, 2008, Lawrence Kudlow “Having failed to puncture Gen. David Petraeus’ story about great improvements on the ground in Iraq, liberals now say the cost of the Iraq war has somehow undermined the economy – even caused the current slowdown. What complete nonsense.”

Kudlow, who is host of CNBC’s Kudlow & Company and a syndicated columnist, provides economic facts that the economy has not been harmed. Total cost of the war is estimated at 1% of GDP and with projected troop cuts, total cost would be half of one percent of GDP. Real GDP has increased by 16%, unemployment has been below 5%, and industrial production expanded by 13.5 percent. He raises some good questions about the costs of not going to war. Has the war helped to prevent additional terrorists attacks in the U.S.? How much would it have cost to contain Saddam Hussein?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/ what_price_freedom.html