The American Spectator

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The Butcher of Belgrade is assuming room temperature. I don't know if anyone cares to reopen the Balkans debates that divided the Right in the 90s, but for what it's worth, here's what I wrote in 2003, in the context of the prewar Iraq debate:

At the time, I was highly conflicted about American involvement in the Balkans (particularly in Kosovo); I was unsure that what the U.S. had to gain outweighed the risks those wars entailed, and somewhat disgusted by the Clinton administration's hypocrisy in ignoring humanitarian crises in, say, Rwanda. In hindsight, though, I have little doubt that stabilizing that region has been an almost unmitigated good: lives have, on balance (even with collateral damage and anti-Christian reprisals), been saved; the Muslim population we protected from ethnic cleansing has become relatively infertile for radicalism; policy makers have fewer strategic factors to worry about in a region at a critical geographic crossroads.

James Poulos wrote last month on the continuing negotiations over Kosovo.

topics:
Iraq