"Crossroads of Intervention is a superlative book, even-handed, succinct, and laced with shrewd judgments. Todd Greentree demolishes the cliches that both the left and the right have devised to describe American involvement in the wars that battered El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s. The result is a model of good scholarship, with considerable relevance to present-day U. S. foreign policy." -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War "Between Vietnam and Iraq, the United States was involved in another set of now-forgotten conflicts in Central America during which it was forced, painfully, to re-learn the principles of insurgency counterinsurgency warfare. ^ICrossroads of Intervention^R tells this tale in a gripping fashion, and demonstrates the essential continuity in the nature of these conflicts. It's only too bad that this book had not been available before the start of the Iraq War." -- Francis Fukuyama, Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director, International Development Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University "Crossroads of Intervention is a superb examination of the Central American wars of the 1980s. Greentree brilliantly describes the mixed motives, unintended consequences, and moral dilemmas of these wars, and persuasively brings to light their status as a bridge between Vietnam and Iraq. Military strategists keen on learning more about irregular warfare will find rich rewards in this study. Greentree knows the region intimately and has a knack for asking-and answering persuasively-the larger questions. Briskly written and eminently readable, this work belongs on the bookshelf of all students of American foreign and military policy." -- David Hendrickson, Professor of Political Science, Colorado College
Foreword (Robert W. Tucker) Preface 1. Introduction: The Strategy and Policy of Intervention in Central America 2. What Was at Stake? 3. The Problem of Limits 4. Nicaragua: The Fall of Somoza and the Triumph of the Sandinistas 5. El Salvador: Reform with Repression 6. The Contra War: Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and the Cold War 7. Every War Must End 8. Epilogue and Aftermath Notes Selected Readings Index
TODD GREENTREE is a Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and teaches national security studies and international politics at the University of New Mexico. He is a former Professor of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College. Greentree's personal experience with irregular warfare extends from El Salvador and Nicaragua to Angola, where he served as U.S. Foreign Service Officer.
In the author's view, U.S. involvement in Central America during
the 1980s clearly demonstrated the limits of intervention and use
of force in internal conflicts. He believes that much can be
learned today from our experience in those cases because, while
U.S. aims were achieved, the operations had no tangible impact on
the greater purpose -- the Cold War overall.
*Proceedings*
[An] excellent and very timely book… Greentree's book is an
excellent place to start for those who would like to refresh their
memories about this critical era in the history of irregular
warfare.
*Survival*
American policymakers…like anyone else who wants to learn about
those conflicts, would profit greatly from reading this…very useful
study.
*The Historian*
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