The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke In The World 1610390784, 9781610390781

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THE UNQYIET AMERICAN tells the story of Richard Holbrooke, one of the most accomplished diplomats in modern American history. In Holbrooke's own words and with original essays by twelve acclaimed writers and those who knew him best, this book offers an inside perspective on the history that Holbrooke witnessed, chroni­ cled, participated in, and ultimately shaped. In taking readers on a journey through Holbrooke's life, The

Unquiet American also offers an up-close look at statecraft, journalism, politics, public service, and America's role in the world. This book captures Richard Holbrooke's contri­ butions to our world, a world he altered and devoured. More than a memorial or celebration of his life, The

Unquiet American offers fresh insights into the man whose presence is sorely missed. The contributors to this book each had a special relationship with Holbrooke. They include journalists who reported on him, friends who worked with him, mentees who were shepherded by him, and even a two-time hostage whose release he tried to negotiate. Each essay offers colorful portraits of the man and new reporting on events that he rarely discussed. Holbrooke was someone who elicited strong and diverse opinions, a.id each essay offers a unique win­ dow into his life story. And by including a small sample of the many articles he wrote throughout his life, readers will experience Holbrooke in full: opinion­ ated, witty, authoritative, brilliant, and unrelenting. Following Holbrooke's life and career from his days as a budding journalist at Brown University to his experiences as a diplomatic bulldozer in Vietnam, (continued on back flap)

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THE UNQUIET AMERICAN

UN DI.ET AMERICAN the

RICHARD HOLBROOKE IN THE WORLD DEREK CHOLLET and SAMANTHA POWER Editors

PuBLICAFFAIRS NEW YORK

Copyright © 2011 by Derek Chollet and Samantha Power Published in the United States by PublicAffairs™, a Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. "Berlin's Unquiet Ghosts"© The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the material without express written permission is prohibited. "The Writing on the Wall" and "Last Best Hope"© the New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited. ''America, a European Power" reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs (March/ April 1995). "The Next President: Mastering a Daunting Agenda" reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs (September/October 2008). Copyright 1995 and 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc., www.ForeignAffairs.com. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in, critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321, New York, NY 10107. PublicAffairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. Design and production by Eclipse Publishing Services Set in 10.5-point Adobe Caslon Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934432 ISBN: 978-1-61039-078-1 (HC) ISBN: 978-1-61039-079-8 (EB) First Edition 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he Whom every Man in arms should wish to be? -It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought: Whose high endeavours are an inward light That make the path before him always bright: Who, with a natural instinct to discern What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn; Abides by this resolve, and stops not there, But makes his moral being his prime care; ... Who, not content that former worth stand fast, Looks forward, persevering to the last, From well to better, daily self-surpast: Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, Or He must go to dust without his fame, And leave a dead unprofitable name, Finds comfort in himself and in his cause; And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause; This is the happy Warrior; this is He Whom every Man in arms should wish to be. -William Wordsworth from "Character of the Happy Warrior"

Contents

Preface xi Derek Chollet and Samantha Power

Introduction Kati Marton

1

The Audacity of Determination 1hinker, Doer, Mentor, Friend 8 Strobe Talbott

ONE

7

The Machine That Fails (Winter 1970-1971) 23 Foreword to Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (2003) 34 The Paradox of George F. Kennan (March 21, 2005) Richard Holbrooke

39

The Journalist 43 Reporting Truth to Power 44 E. Benjamin Skinner That Magnificent Hunger 58 Jonathan Alter

TWO

The Writing on the Wall (July 27, 1961) 62 Washington Dateline: The New Battlelines (Winter 1973-1974) 65 Jack Frost Nipping at the Years (March 5, 1975) 72 Richard Holbrooke

vii

viii I Contents

Vietnam 75 Richard Holbrooke and the Vietnam War: Past and Prologue 76

THREE

Gordon M. Goldstein

A Generation Conditioned by the Impact ofVietnam (December 20, 1969) 96 A Little Lying Goes a Long Way (September 10, 1971) 99 Pushing Sand (May 3, 1975) 101 Our Second Civil War (August 28, 2004) 106 Why Vietnam Matters (2008) 109 Richard Holbrooke

Asia in the Carter Years 115 Restoring Am.erica's Role in Asia 116

FOUR

Richard Bernstein

Escaping the Domino Trap (September 7, 1975) 132 Conscience and Catastrophe (July 30, 1984) 146 Much Too Tough to Be Cute (March 3, 1997) 157 The Day the Door to China Opened Wide (December 15, 2008) 159 Richard Holbrooke

Europe in the Clinton Years 163 Holbrooke, a European Power 164

FIVE

Roger Cohen

America, a European Power (March/April 1995) 176 Hungarian History in the Making (December 1999) 190 Berlin's Unquiet Ghosts (September 10, 2001) 194 Richard Holbrooke

Bosnia and Dayton 197 Ending a War 198

SIX

Derek Chol/et

Bosnia: The "Cleansing" Goes On (August 16, 1992) 209 With Broken Glass (April 25, 1993) 212 W hy Are We in Bosnia? (May 18, 1998) 214 Foreword to The Road to the Dayton Accords (2006) 225 The Face of Evil (July 23, 2008) 235 Richard Holbrooke

Contents I 1x

The United Nations 239 Holbrooke in Turtle Bay 240

SEVEN

fames Traub

The United Nations: Flawed But Indispensable (November 2, 1999) 251 Last Best Hope (September 28, 2003) 257 Richard Holbrooke

Fighting HIV/AIDS 263 The Global HIV/AIDS Crisis 264

EIGHT

John Tedstrom

AIDS: The Strategy Is Wrong (November 29, 2005) 274 Sorry, But AIDS Testing Is Critical (January 4, 2006) 278 Richard Holbrooke

Afghanistan and Pakistan 281 The Last Mission 282

NINE

David Rohde

Rebuilding Nations (April 1, 2002) 296 Afghanistan: The Long Road Ahead (April 2, 2006) 300 Still Wrong in Afghanistan (January 23, 2008) 303 Hope in Pakistan; The Problems Are Real, But So Is the Progress (March 21, 2008) 306 Richard Holbrooke

Mentor and Friend 309 All That's Left 310

TEN

Samantha Power

A Sense of Drift, a T ime for Calm (Summer 1976) 319 The Next President: Mastering a Daunting Agenda (September/October 2008) 333 Richard Holbrooke Notes 355 About the Contributors

Index 363

359

Preface DEREK CHOLLET AND SAMANTHA POWER

Richard Holbrooke loved history. He had a keen sense of the past and how it helps define contemporary choices. So in the days after he passed away so suddenly in December 2010, and his friends and col­ leagues tried to make sense of the loss, we shared tales of all the ways in which Holbrooke had shaped history and changed lives. "Holbrooke stories" flew back and forth over email; they populated websites; and they dominated dinner conversations and hallway run-ins. Lacking the ability to talk or write to Holbrooke, we consoled ourselves by talking and writing about Holbrooke. Some stories portrayed him as a once-in­ a-lifetime Great Man of History, some recalled his imperious side, but virtually all offered novel details on his trailblazing diplomacy, showing the large dent he made in the world around him. This book is an effort to capture Richard Holbrooke's contributions to that world, a world he altered and devoured. Our aim was to produce more than a memorial or celebration of his life; it was to assemble a book that offered fresh insight into the man whose presence is sorely missed and whose contributions are known in silhouette but-with the lone ex­ ception of his role in ending the war in Bosnia-in surprisingly sparse detail. The contributors to this book each had a special relationship with Holbrooke. They include journalists who reported on him, friends who worked with him, mentees who were shepherded by him, and even a two-time hostage _whose release he tried to negotiate. The contributors delve into the most important phases of his career. They offer colorful portraits of the man and new reporting on events that he rarely discussed.

XI

xii I Preface

Holbrooke was someone who elicited strong and diverse opinions, and each essay offers a unique window into his life story.* The contributors offer perspectives on the history that Holbrooke witnessed, chronicled, participated in, and ultimately shaped. In taking readers on a journey through Holbrooke's life, the book also offers an up-close look at statecraft,journalism, politics, public service, and Amer­ ica's role in the world. Here, we take our cue from Holbrooke himself, who in the opening chapter of his memoir, To End a War, quotes the British historian Eric Hobsbawm: "For all of us there is a twilight zone between history and memory; between the past as a generalized record which is open t� relatively dispassionate inspection and the past as a re­ membered part of, or background to, one's own life." Holbrooke was never a dispassionate inspector of anything, and nor, we are pleased to report, are the contributors to this book, as Holbrooke's "own life" is both background to-and window into-some of the most significant events in American and world history of the past fifty years. This book follows Holbrooke's career chronologically, from his days as a budding journalist at Brown University, to Vietnam, Bosnia, the United Nations, and Afghanistan. We see in every mission what we know motivated him from the very start-as he wrote and underlined six times in his diary as a young man: "PURPOSE." Every one of these chapters testifies to the tremendous energy he put into pursuing concrete goals, and his achievements speak for them­ selves: authoring a volume of the Pentagon Papers at the age. of twenty­ seven; editing Foreign Policy magazine; handling the normalization of relations with China; negotiating the Dayton peace for Bosnia; pushing for NATO expansion eastward; creating the American Academy in Berlin; masterminding a historic deal to pay back nearly $ I billion in U.S. arrears to the UN; promoting the global recognition of AIDS as a national security threat, and enlisting more than two hundred companies in the effort to provide antiretroviral treatment to HIV-positive workers; and orchestrating the civilian "surge" in Afghanistan. In all of these mis­ sions, he married huge ambition with a gift for improvisation. He wanted to be at the center of things and, from the White House job he * As in any edited volume, each author in this book only speaks for himself or her­ sel£ And even though these essays cover nearly a half century of American diplo­ matic history, the views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. government.

Preface I xm

Holbrooke and Marton during an eleven-country tour ofAfrica when he was UNAmbassador. Holbrooke spent a large part ofhis life on airplanes-and he treated them like an , extension ofhis office. (Courtesy ofKati Marton)

held at age twenty-six to his last mission as President Obama's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, he constantly found a way to place himself there. Notable though his achievements are on their face, his impact comes to seem all the more remarkable when one gets a behind-the-scenes feel in these chapters for the personal risks Holbrooke took, the bureaucratic fights he waged, and the people he crossed, in order to get results. Whether you were or weren't a fan of Richard Holbrooke, you will see in this book two simple truths. First, he made more of an impact in more places and on more issues than almost anybody appreciated and, arguably, more than anyone else. His reach and his range were staggering. And second, nothing about his achievements was foreordained; indeed most of his endeavors started with low odds of success. Without Holbrooke's dreaming, his bullying, his irrepressible activism, and his chronic longing for impact, the history of the last half century could in fact look quite different. As James Traub writes in his essay, for Holbrooke, "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."That "overdoing" of his did not always win him friends, but it indisputably won him results. Because writing was such a huge part of Holbrooke's life­ as columnist, author, ghostwriter, and editor-this book also includes selections from hi� own pen-a small sample of the hundreds of articles he wrote over his career. In these writings, one hears the same distinct voice that has lodged permanently in our heads from conversation­ opinionated, authoritative, unrelenting, and attentive to the small details

xiv I Preface that grab an audience's attention and offer ballast to the larger argument. As a writer of articles out of government, or as a writer of memos inside government, Holbrooke's purpose was the same: His readers should agree with him and do what he advised so as to make America more secure or some part of the world more peaceful. EACH OF THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS BOOK HA.S A. DEMANDING DAY JOB,

and yet none hesitated even a second when asked to contribute. All threw themselves into the writing task, conducting fresh interviews, por­ ing over old diaries, letters, and primary source material, and regaling us with previously .untold tales ofHolbrooke in action. On reflection, it was probably hard for any of us to complain about the hazards of multitask­ ing when our assignment was to write about perhaps the world's greatest multitasker-a man whose favorite word was "urgent" and who turned his double-fisted cell phone use into the stuff of legend. Nonetheless, we are enormously thankful to our fellow contributors, whose enthusiasm for Richard Holbrooke made it possible to meet our aims, which were threefold: to produce a book that would satisfy Holbrooke's own high editorial standards; to capture his voice and his ambition such that it read like he was sitting across the dinner table; and to inspire would-be public servants to see the enormous good a single individual can do in a life crammed with activity and driven by purpose. We must single out a few individuals for special thanks. Strobe Talbott helped us conceptualize this book, which began as ai::i ill-formed idea just days afterHolbrooke's death. Ben Skinner was a full partner in this enterprise--mining the archives forHolbrooke's previously published articles, pitching in on editing, engaging with the contributors, and writ­ ing a terrific essay of his own. Amanda Urban helped us get the book off the ground, pairing us with PublicAffairs, and Alison Schwartz helped manage the production process with multiple authors. And the incredible team at PublicAffairs, especially Peter Osnos and Clive Priddle, contributed wise counsel and sound judgment (as well as near-infinite patience), taking on more oversight than they likely expected, and sharing our determination to produce a book befitting of its subject. We also thank Peter-who was a friend ofHolbrooke's since the early 1970s and worked with him closely on many projects, including Clark Clifford's memoirs-for the inspired-idea of including Holbrooke's own writings in the book. Mark Corsey and his fine copyediting team were indispen-

Preface I xv

sable in improving our essays and in transcribing Holbrooke's writings, as was Melissa Raymond in ensuring an elegant and bold design. Finally, and most importantly, we are grateful to our friend, Kati Marton, for her encouragement and her constant willingness to engage on a project that brought the "big guy" back to life on the page. Amid all the pain of the last year, we hope that this book captures some of the same wit, wisdom, and spirit that she and Richard have provided so many for so long. Richard Holbrooke may never have been a quiet man, but he was the first to say that, in love, he was a very lucky one.

Wedding day in Budapest, May 28, .1995. (Courtesy ofKati Marton)

With Nelson Mandela and Kati, during Holbrooke's December 1999 trip to Africa as U.S. Ambassador to the UN. (Courtesy of Kati Marton)

Introduction KATI MARTON

T

his book brings my husband so vividly to life that while reading it I half expected Richard to walk through the front door and call out my name. Ihe Unquiet American is the work of a group of writers who either knew Richard intimately or had followed and observed his re­ markable career for decades. It is clearly a labor of love, though it is full of sharp observations and critical probing, some of which I find myself wanting to argue with just as Richard would have. In these pages they paint Richard Holbrooke in the full colors of his passions and achieve­ ments, his "magnificent hunger," in Jonathan Alter's words, for life and all it had to offer. "Let's go, let's go!" he would pull me toward the front door, even as jet lag from the Kabul flight home told on his face. There was a movie, a play, a game, a friend-life!-waiting outside. This book is about more than one man's life. I hope it will serve as a very human and rather unorthodox manual for future diplomats, and a source of renewed inspiration for those who might have lost their faith in public service. My husband never lost his early excitement in living a large, public life. He believed ambition was a good thing, as long as it was married to purpose. Yes, he was unquiet-but generally unquiet on behalf of those who otherwise would not have been heard. What a shame it would be. if we had a government entirely composed of quiet, careful men and women. The Unquiet American captures Richard's diplomatic style and his phenomenal energy. It was his special brand of diplomacy that earned I

2

I INTRODUCTION

him his place in history. For him, diplomacy was engagement, one person at a time, an entirely human enterprise. He was a careful student of the human psyche. He read his interlocutors' motives and vulnerabilities almost immediately. For all the stories of his explosive personality, many of his most famous eruptions were staged to achieve a defined end. He was all the while paying very close attention to the man across the table, playing to his weaknesses, quickly rewarding his good behavior, attuned to him even as he pounded the table to get his attention. The history of the Balkan wars and the peace talks that ended them is a personal s�ory for me. The year 1995, when the war became too murderous for the world to ignore any longer, was the year I married Richard Holbrooke. The war shadowed every single day of our first year of marriage. In retrospect, I would not trade a single day of that turbulent year and the chance to observe history from such close range. Richard did not believe that war-any war-was inevitable. At the opening dinner of the peace talks held in an enormous hangar in Dayton, Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, my husband seated me be­ tween the two mortal foes, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, and instructed me to make them talk to each other. Since Richard believed in using all available tools, he seated Milosevic directly under a giant B-2 bomber, a dramatic symbol of American power-a message that was not lost on Milosevic. For much of the evening, Milosevic and Izetbegovic avoided direct conver­ sation with each other. But when, in despair, I asked them how the two of them first met, Milosevic finally turned to lzetbegovic and said, "Alija, I remember calling on you in your office in Sarajevo. You were seated on a green sofa-Moslem green." Izetbegovic nodded and said he remem­ bered the meeting. "You were very brave,Alija.""How did the war start?" I asked them. "Did you know your initial disagreement would lead to this terrible conflict?""I did not think the fighting would be so serious," lzetbegovic answered. Milosevic nodded in agreement. It was amazing to hear these two protagonists sound genuinely surprised at the war they had unleashed. When, later that evening, I related this conversation to Richard, he just shook his head, appalled but not surprised. He was a master tactician. When the talks seemed to have cratered out, he gathered his exhaus_ted team and announced the talks were over. Pack your bags, he instructed them. Bags soon appeared outside the

Kati Marton I 3

American negotiators' doors. This was partly theater: a demonstration that Richard Holbrooke meant business. The America� were leaving. At that point, I spotted Milosevic standing outside our barracks in the snow. He said he wanted to speak with Richard. I ran inside to get my husband. Milosevic told him he did not want to lose a peace that was within their grasp. The Serb offered to give up extra land to salvage it. Finally, the deal was done. The peace has held. No shot has been fired in anger in Bosnia since November 1995. This book cites other examples of Richard's diplomatic prowess, including how, as U.S. ambassador to the UN, Richard persuaded right­ wing Republicans on Capitol Hill to pay our $925 million back dues to the world body. "If we can't afford to lose," Richard told Jim Traub, "we might as well throw ourselves body and soul into the effort, like a skier in a downhill race just going flat out-you're either going to fall or win." He preferred to win, of course. "No cabinet member in any administra­ tion since the dawn of time," his aide Robert Orr recalled, "visited as many congressmen as Richard Holbrooke." In a now-legendary diplo­ matic stroke, he invited North Carolina's feared and reviled UN critic, Republican Senator Jesse Helms, to address the Security C