"Despite clear warnings (and the presence of Dutch UN troops), Bosnian Serbs at Srebrenica carried out the worst single war crime in Europe since the end of World War II. In this definitive account, a lecturer in War Studies at King's College, London, and a former assistant to Lord Owen illuminate the background, the deepening crisis and the tragic failure to prevent the massacre. Rejecting rumours that peacekeepers were cowardly or incompetent, or that there was a conspiracy to abandon the 'safe areas', they argue that incoherent Western plans both to relieve suffering and to ensure that aggression did not pay led inexorably to disaster. Their balanced and penetrating book draws out the terrible consequences and the essential lessons for us all. "--Jacket.