Prominent U.S. foreign policy scholar to speak about Iraq War

The IU Department of History is hosting Andrew J. Bacevich, professor of international relations at Boston University, at 8 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Georgian Room. Bacevich will be speaking about U.S. foreign policy after the Iraq War. \nBacevich is part of the annual McNutt lecture series hosted by IU’s history department. The series is meant to honor Paul V. McNutt, former dean of the IU School of Law and Indiana’s 33rd governor. \nBecause McNutt was a prominent figure in the Philippines in the 1930s, the history department often looks to bring lecturers to speak about contemporary issues pertaining to U.S. foreign policy, said history professor Michael McGerr in an e-mail. \n“This year’s speaker, professor Andrew Bacevich of Boston University, is a leading expert on the historical interrelationship of U.S. military power and foreign policy, which makes him a natural choice,” McGerr said. \nBacevich is an open critic of how the United States is handling Iraq. In an op-ed this month in the International Herald Tribune, Bacevich wrote, “although the White House may pretend otherwise, the Bush doctrine and the freedom agenda have failed their trials. That failure is definitive ... \nThe collapse of the Bush doctrine and the freedom agenda leaves a dangerous void.” \nEric Sandweiss, associate professor of history, said the war in Iraq “is such an important issue ... for students especially.” \nSandweiss said Bacevich was chosen because the history department was looking for someone who could make “connections with IU students. Someone who would open up and he is certainly eager to do that.” \nMcGerr also said the history department wanted a lecturer who could “underscore the relationship between history and the contemporary world.” \nMcGerr said the lecturer is typically someone who will discuss the importance of McNutt’s era, the 20th century, in relation to events today. \nBacevich specializes in U.S. foreign policy and is the author of four books on U.S. military and foreign affairs. Bacevich has also had essays and reviews published in The Atlantic Monthly, The Wilson Quarterly, The London Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Nation and The New Republic. Bacevich obtained his bachelors of science from the U.S. Military Academy as well as his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University. In addition to being awarded numerous grants and awards, Bacevich was the recipient of the Arter-Darby Military History Writing Award.