What’s going on in Iraq isn’t new.

With mixed results, U.S. troops have, in recent years, waged similar nation building campaigns in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Bosnia.

These campaigns will be the subject of a 90-minute panel discussion, “Across the Spectrum of Violence: Peacekeeping, Counterinsurgency, Stability Operations,” at 4 p.m. today at the Hall Center for the Humanities. The forum is free and open to the public.

Panelists will include seven faculty and doctoral students from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, including U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert Burns, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, as well as Haiti, Macedonia and Bosnia.

“This will be a unique blend of academics and military personnel – you might say academics whose boots have been on the ground,” said Bob Berlin, a professor and Director of Outreach command college.

Berlin said he expected an open and frank discussion of the U.S. presence in Iraq and the realities of dealing with insurgents.

“It will be a mix of history, international relations, political science and current world events,” Berlin said.

Berlin will moderate the forum with Kansas University history professor Ted Wilson. The group is expected to field questions from the audience.

The forum is part of an ongoing effort to increase cooperation between the command college and KU.

“Except for Hurricane Katrina, there isn’t an issue that’s raising more concern today than the current situation in Iraq,” Wilson said. “It’ll be interesting to hear what people who’ve studied how the U.S. and other nations have sought to establish stability in the midst of fierce opposition have to say.”