The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65 sovereignty — to protect all persons within its borders from those who would do them harm. As Evans explains, it is only when a state is unwilling or unable to avert such harm that “the principle of non- intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect.” In other words, intervention to protect a vul- nerable or attacked population must be a last step, not a first one, tried only when less intrusive measures — e.g., incentives, sanctions, boycotts, em- bargoes, no-fly zones — fail to stop the loss of life. In addition, after prevention has failed and reaction (including possible military measures) has occurred, there is also a responsibility to rebuild, in order to minimize the chances that the violence will flare up again. The book’s Appendix B lists both direct and more long-term structural meas- ures for each category of action. Many Foreign Service members will at some point be asked to make recommendations concerning possible measures to stop civil disturbances that threaten to deteriorate into mob action and mass violence. It is therefore es- sential that they be familiar with the full spectrum of actions that can be pursued before any call to “send in the Marines” or the 82nd Airborne. Evans puts forward a compelling argument for formal adoption of R2P by the community of nations, a step that gained traction at the 2005 World Summit Outcome and was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in 2006. However, the recent United Nations General Assembly debate saw growing concern (real or feigned) that the “re- sponsibility to protect” would become “a right to intervene.” This is a discussion all members of the Foreign Service would do well to follow, given the grim reality that chaos and violence show no sign of ending in today’s world. Leon Weintraub, a Foreign Service of- ficer from 1975 to 2004, is director of the University of Wisconsin’s Wash- ington, D.C., Semester in Internation- al Affairs Program. A Senseless Incident? Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel’s Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship James Scott, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $27, hardcover, 374 pages. R EVIEWED BY E DWARD P ECK Israel’s fierce attack on the USS Liberty during the Six-Day War still generates heated discussion more than four decades later. Although journalist James Scott is the son of a surviving Liberty officer, his coverage of the in- cident is carefully researched, exten- sively annotated and refreshingly non-polemical. He raises understated but important questions about the de- cisions to cover up the attack, the B O O K S Evans puts forward a compelling argument for formal adoption of “R2P” by the community of nations. CHANGE OF ADDRESS Moving? Take AFSA With You! Change your address online at: www.afsa.org/comment.cfm Or Send change of address to: AFSA Membership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037