After the war that divided the former Yugoslavia into Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, Sarajevo was a wasteland. It has had a city on that plot of land since before the Romans showed up and started building, in a beautiful valley. A sniper’s paradise. The residents marked the sniper’s success by painting red marks where each victim fell. When I was walking down the street, I was confronted by a young lady who was angry at me carrying a gun, reminding her of those terrible days. The French peacekeepers who had invested the city were afraid of collateral damage if they tried to relieve the siege. I haven’t been there for more than 20 years, the buildings were mostly intact, there was running water and electricity in most of the city and food was available.

I was stationed in Brcko, in northern Bosnia, where Serbia and Croatia meet, not far from the infamous Arizonia Market. I made friends with a former Serbian Captain Miko Stanovich to help collect weapons and identify mine fields to be cleared. I remember standing on a hill overlooking a small fertile valley. He was pointing out an old battlefield and explaining where the lines were. He showed me his mother-in-law’s house, explaining that they were separated by the battle lines. Also, that during the war, he couldn’t visit because his wife’s family was Bosnian, ethnically Muslim. His mother-in law died during the war.

The war destroyed a nation, cities, and families. It doesn’t matter how Yugoslavia came into existence; the borders are irrelevant. The people who lived there had been living in peace for centuries. When Russia collapsed and the Warsaw Pact disbanded, Milosevich decided to purify the nation. It was war that stopped him.

War is the ultimate exercise of force, naked and raw. War stopped Hitler, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hirohito, the Crusades, even slavery. It is a way for us to stop the atrocities and protect civilization. I’ve seen the same footage as you, bombed out buildings and bodies scattered around. Cities and towns devastated and depopulated by the passing of an army. On a smaller scale, a warlord and his men hacking and raping across their small plot of land, dragging children away to refill the ranks of their army. As horrible as it is, it is the only cure for worse.

War is the disease as well as the cure.