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Product Description
Of the 33,000 troops under NATO command in Afghanistan in October 2006, 12,000 were Americans and 2,500 were Canadians. Deployed to southern Afghanistan, the Canadian forces were charged with ending the violent insurgency in Kandahar Province. The Savage War offers a compelling look at how the war has been conducted by Canada and its allies on the ground and at the highest echelons. With unprecedented access to classified documents and the exceptional storytelling skills that have made him an award-winning reporter, Murray Brewster offers a powerful new perspective on the war.
Told in the first person by a journalist who's spent more time in the trenches than any of his peers, The Savage War provides a candid look at the war's principal figures captured in off-camera moments and the daily, gritty reality of ordinary soldiers and Afghans. And as Canada prepares to take on a new mission in Afghanistan, this is the first comprehensive account of the five most significant years of the war and the key moments in it that shaped history.
- Murray Brewster provides tough-minded analysis and a critique of bureaucracy as well as revelations about corruption—sure to incite commentary and stir controversy
- Includes eyewitness accounts, exclusive interviews, and access to classified documents
- An unflinching, unvarnished analysis of Canada's role in the war, told in first-person by a journalist who has sat in trenches with soldiers, and also in the living room of 24 Sussex Drive with the prime minister
Taking readers beyond punditry and political spin, The Savage War is the first comprehensive account of the key moments in the Afghan war that have shaped history. Many have asked what went wrong. The Savage War tackles this question head on.
From the Inside Flap
Murray Brewster, award-winning veteran defense correspondent for The Canadian Press, has covered the war in Afghanistan from Kandahar and forward-operating bases, the corridors of power in Ottawa and Washington, and NATO headquarters. He is courageous and tenacious, a journalist whose hard work resulted in interviews with Canadian troops, officials and warlords alike. He broke the story of Ottawa's attempts to silence whistle-blower Richard Colvin's story of tortured Afghan prisoners.
The narrative in The Savage War tackles the latter five years of the conflict. Brewster elicited first-hand commentary from the troops and senior members of the forces. Mandarins in Ottawa also gave Brewster face time, and he rigorously followed debate and parliamentary inquiries as the war ground on.
At the heart of the book are the Afghan people, whose land is a war zone. They are the human face of this conflict, and Brewster travelled to their villages and won their confidence to get their stories.
A superb story-teller, Brewster adds a dimension to the book: his own insights and hard-hitting criticism. His eyes and ears are those of every Canadian who has a desire to better understand a war half a world away that at times divided the nation, galvanized government controversy, cost hundreds of millions of dollars to wage, and cost lives.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Savage Read,
By R. Ovenbird (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan (Hardcover)
This is not a military history of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. While you will read about some of the things that Canadian soldiers did at the operational and tactical level, if you are looking for a campaign history of Op ARCHER/ATHENA you will be disappointed. If, however, you want to know why they were there and why they ultimately left then this is the only book on the topic worth reading.Mr. Brewster's multiple trips to Afghanistan as an embedded and unembedded reporter combine with his significant experience in the Canadian capital to produce an in-depth look at the strategic impetus behind the mission. The Savage War has a unique roller-coaster feel to it as Mr. Brewster will on one page be discussing the highest-level cabinet discussions and then be detailing his own absurd adventures in Kanadhar City as he looks to see if the rationale matches the reality. To be certain, there are moments where Mr. Brewster's opinions are on display, but he never suggests that they are anything but opinions and -more importantly- they are informed opinions. It is far too early for a definitive account of the miliary mission at the operational level to be written as there is still too much emotion invested in the experience. The few books that have so far tried to describe the larger mission (with the exception of Christie Blatchford's work which focuses on individuals and Mark Gasparotto's book which is devoid of sophistry) are wishful tribute pieces at best. Mr. Brewster's book is probably the first one to attempt to cross the threshold into the sort of dispassionate analysis required to truly understand the past and as such it is, and will likely remain, an important book on the Canadian mission to Afghanintan. Indeed, it is probably the first truly important book to be written on it. If you are the sort of person who feels that it is unpatriotic to do anything that does not implicitly 'support the troops' then you will probably not enjoy this book. If you want to attempt to understand the horrible and necessary reality of relationship between modern polity and modern warfare, as well as the collision between the starkest cynicism and the most profound hope then let this book challenge you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Unwinnable War: One Reporter's Viewpoint,
By
This review is from: The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan (Hardcover)
The World War of 1939-1945 has been called "The Good War" and the Korean War has been called "The Forgotten War;" the Canadian mission to southern Afghanistan, if one interprets the writing of Murray Brewster correctly, could be called "The Unwinnable War." Murray Brewster spent many months there between 2006 and 2011 as a Canadian Press journalist, immersing himself in the Canadian theatre of operations as well as covering higher level political developments about Afghanistan in Ottawa and in other NATO countries. He divides his writing into 25 chapters which move chronologically through that period, the narrative being almost a series of essays from a very personal point of view about key events that he lived through.As a journalist, he treads a line in the grey area between official pronouncements about the mission, and what he sees and hears during his travels. Certainly, the life of such a journalist is not a comfortable one: combat troops sometimes segregated themselves from journalists and resented their presence on dangerous missions; some army public affairs officers attempted to dictate what stories should be reported on particular days; insurgents saw them a targets as they travelled about independently in search of stories; and they even became targets for government officials who felt threatened by possible revelations of corruption. While in Afghanistan, Brewster relied greatly on teaming up with a good "fixer," that is an Afghan who could translate, chauffeur his car, and arrange meetings with local politicians and even Taliban sources. It is therefore not surprising that Brewster felt a bond with some of his trusted fixers. One of these was nicknamed "Jojo," a young hustler who was often worked for other Canadian reporters from the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. He was shocked in the summer of 2007, when Jojo was arrested by US military police, along with Canadian CTV reported Steve Chao, at the gates of the big base at Kandahar Airfield. Chao was later released, but Jojo was sent to the US military prison at Bagram Airfield where he was held for eleven months. When Jojo was finally released, Brewster noted that he was never the same person as before, as a result of the treatment he received. Unfortunately, Jojo seemed to have many enemies. He was finally assassinated in a hail of bullets at a traffic stop in Kandahar City after passing on a story to Brewster about corruption by private security contractors, one of whom was a cousin of Hamid Karzai. Jojo's death hit Brewster particularly hard as he admired the young man who had liked the Western way of life and been enthusiastic in his job of helping journalists get their stories. On at least two occasions, a situation arose in which Murray Brewster felt himself to be in great danger, while travelling about independently with his fixer. During one of these times, Brewster and several other reporters were interviewing workers who were harvesting resin for heroine production from a huge remote poppy field, when they suddenly noticed a car had suddenly pulled up to block their vehicle. "We were on our own and it as one of those moments of sheer terror, the kind that usually hammered your feet to the floor." Without hesitation, the group headed back to their car where fixer managed, by an emotional dialogue in Pashtun language, to talk his way out of a very touchy situation. Brewster had learned his lesson by now to always have a sense that danger lurked around every corner. His very first fixer in 2006 had warned him to always be cautious. When the naive Brewster replied that the fixer was just being paranoid, the fixer simply agreed: "Yes, and so should you be." Savage Wars is a well-written account of the war in Afghanistan that will give you a view of the forward operating bases, the back streets of Kandahar City, and the halls of power in Ottawa that you will not find anywhere else. In these places, his keen journalistic senses dig out stories that Western authorities were not aware of; or of things the authorities were aware of but didn't want to admit.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book,
By
This review is from: The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan (Hardcover)
Brewster's book centres on the Canadian effort in Afghanistan since 2005, but he paints a vivid picture of Afghanistan and its people that make it a compelling read to anyone interested in the region. It also provides a blow by blow no holds barred account of the government and military decision making process and show the extent Canada was unprepared to jump into the boiling cauldron it ended up in. It's the kind of book you'll read more than once.
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