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Somalia dominates more than half of this shocking account, and well it might, for without the fall-out from the American intervention, the genocide in another, Rwanda, may have been averted. It's a shuddering thought, and utterly condemnatory of American foreign policy in Africa, a point which Scott Peterson, newspaper correspondent and photographer, is at pains to narrate. The manner in which "God's Work" was executed was appalling. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory with a display of arrogance and incompetence beyond moral or political mandate, turning a mercy mission into an aggressive situation, peace-keeping into peace-enforcement. As a result of Bloody Monday in Mogadishu in 1993 (part of Operation Restore Hope), in which he nearly lost his life (four other Western journalists subsequently did, along with at least 54 Somalis), Peterson believes that US Admiral Jonathan Howe could, should, have been charged with war crimes. That he wasn't is at the heart of why the Americans will not sign up for an international criminal court.
Somalia dominates more than half of this shocking account, and well it might, for without the fall-out from the American intervention, the genocide in another, Rwanda, may have been averted. It's a shuddering thought, and utterly condemnatory of American foreign policy in Africa, a point which Scott Peterson, newspaper correspondent and photographer, is at pains to narrate. The manner in which "God's Work" was executed was appalling. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory with a display of arrogance and incompetence beyond moral or political mandate, turning a mercy mission into an aggressive situation, peace-keeping into peace-enforcement. As a result of Bloody Monday in Mogadishu in 1993 (part of Operation Restore Hope), in which he nearly lost his life (four other Western journalists subsequently did, along with at least 54 Somalis), Peterson believes that US Admiral Jonathan Howe could, should, have been charged with war crimes. That he wasn't is at the heart of why the Americans will not sign up for an international criminal court.
In the civil war of Sudan, Peterson found the most depressing malaise. More people had died (1.5m) in the Sudanese war than in Bosnia and Somalia combined, as the barren North fought the lush South, Arab arrayed against Christian, with famine snapping at their heels. Life is cheap, but food is dear, especially when aid unfailingly reaches only the mouths of the oppressors. The 1994 Rwandan massacre saw about half, maybe two thirds, of the number of casualties, but the rate of killing was five times greater than even the Nazis managed fifty years before. Extremist Hutus armed themselves with machetes and hacked their way, with Old Testament vengeance, through their Tutsi neighbours and moderate Hutus, while members of the UN Security Council fell over themselves to avoid terming it "genocide". Peterson's anger is palpable, and his eloquent, well-paced analysis, based on innumerable interviews as well as his own experiences, refuses to draw a veil over the horror. Meticulously researched, haunting, and urgent; if journalism is the first draft of history, then Scott Peterson's testimony makes a harrowing yet invaluable contribution. --David Vincent
Review
'Journalism, at its best, is the first draft of history. Peterson was there to draft it in Somalia and Rwanda. His book is likely to emerge as the definitive study of just how indifferent our leaders can be to the suffering of Africans' - The Times - 'As succinct and gripping an account as l've read of the debacle.' - Evening Standard - 'An exemplar of eyewitness reporting and a call to action' - Fergal Keane, Financial Times - 'Certainly the most important book to have come out of the Dark Continent for decades' - The Times - 'Remarkable and important, [a] fine, courageous introduction to Africa's emerging multiple disasters' - The Scotsman -
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The morning turned hot, but kept still; too early for anyone's bile to rise, too early to show anger. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The morning turned hot, but kept still; too early for anyone's bile to rise, too early to show anger. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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