Invasion, Intervention, "Intervasion": A Concise History of the U.S. Army in Operation Uphold Democracy

Abstract

A book review is presented of Invasion, Intervention, "Intervasion": A Concise History of the US Army in Operation Uphold Democracy, by Walter E. Kretchik, Robert F. Baumann, and John T. Fishel.

Invasion, Intervention, 'Intervasion" A Concise History of the US. Army in Operation Uphold Democracy. BY WALTER E. KRETCHIK, ROBERT F. BAUMANN, AND JOHN T. FISHEL.

Fort Leavenworth: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Press, 1998, 273 pp. $15.oo (paper). A scholarly and systematic account of the 1994 American-dominated intervention in Haiti that candidly explores the problems encountered there by the U.S. Army. Particularly striking are the differences between Special Forces troops, which deliberately mingled with the local population, and the Tenth Mountain Division, which was primarily interested in avoiding Somalia-style casualties, preparing for infantry combat instead. Despite some awkward passages, including a heavyhanded analysis of the operation couched in hoary and irrelevant terms like principles of war," this is a first-rate study. The tension between the very different missions of preparing for total war and providing humanitarian intervention will bedevil the American military for some time to come. One hopes that the term "intervasion" will not survive, but this book deserves a long life nonetheless.