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A Million Bullets: The Real Story of the War in Afghanistan (2008)

por James Fergusson

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462547,996 (4.06)2
In April 2006 a small British Army force was sent to the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Defence Minister said the mission could be carried out 'without a shot being fired'. Over a million bullets, 700 dead Afghans and 6 VC recommendations later, James Fergusson brings us the real story of this gruelling and bloody war.… (más)
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A book to put anyone off soldiering. You may not get killed ( the face to face technological advantage is with the Westerners) but you will be isolated, undersupplied, ignored, messed about by your allies and distant HQ. What's more your efforts will be totally pointless and leave things much as they were or slightly worse. Makes strong case that the Western approach prioritised violence (especially the Paras & the US), thereby creating resentment and wrecking any chance of peacemaking or development. Much of the book is rather hard to follow unless you are familiar with the units and organisation of the Services. The last chapters contain the payoff when he goes to meet the Taliban. Narrative at this point is strong and the encounter revealing. They are of course human and making calculations of advantage (rational in Tim Harford's sense), though being totally resolved and resigned to die in battle they do have a different perspective! One says how his father and grandfather died by the bullet so it's what he expects too. The historical aspect is revealing: the afghan fighters remember the previous faranghee invasions, Soviet wreckage is everywhere to be seen; he even spots a youth out duck hunting with a muzzle loader stamped with VR "1842". Dumb idea to assign the Brits to Helmand, as it's where they fought (and took a beating) in previous centuries. And the map used for strategic decisions is a Western fiction, ignoring lines of tribal loyalty, pilgrimage, trade and influence. ( )
  vguy | Aug 25, 2014 |
"...Fergusson was a journalist in Afghanistan with Herrick 4 – the campaign has gone on so long we’re now on about Herrick 14. Fergusson had done all the big interviews with the Defence Secretary and got all that standard block information on the war, but then he started to talk to the soldiers, asking them, ‘What do you think? Why do you think you’re here?’ John Reid was saying the operation in Afghanistan could be achieved without a single shot being fired and yet the soldiers were in the middle of this big fight. How did that happen?



He talks to the Taliban too. In the blurb they make out that it’s a big deal but actually they’re everywhere. You go to Kabul and you bump into them – it’s easy. But it is particularly interesting when he talks to the British units. There’s this Lieutenant-Colonel and he sees it as his time to make a name for his unit and win medals – the politics of the media and medals becomes important when you’re there. I’ll give you an example: there was a big media focus on the 16th Air Assault in Sangin. Why? Because that’s as far as the media were allowed to go into Afghanistan. And ITN covered it, but at exactly the same time the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was up at Now Zad where the media weren’t allowed and they fought the biggest trench engagement with bayonets since the First World War! But because the media couldn’t go there the media coverage was all about the paras in Sangin and nobody knew about Now Zad. And so you get the Battalion Command Officer and the Company Commander moaning, quite rightly, that not one of those lads in the Fusiliers got a decoration.



As far as the media was concerned, Sangin was the most dangerous place on the planet because the journalists need to be seen to be in the most dangerous place, but it wasn’t! And afterwards the National Army Museum even did a big display about the paras in Sangin. You know, you’re rattling around with the troops and the squaddies are saying: ‘That’s not dangerous! That’s why they were there – because it’s not dangerous!’ And the politics with the medals is funny since John Major brought them all together so that everyone gets the same medal, a campaign medal. People don’t like that! They say: ‘Campaign?! We were in a war!’..." (reviewed by Andy McNab in FiveBooks).



The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/andy-mcnab-on-anti-terror-politics-war ( )
Esta reseña ha sido denunciada por varios usuarios como una infracción de las condiciones del servicio y no se mostrará más (mostrar).
  FiveBooks | May 27, 2010 |
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In April 2006 a small British Army force was sent to the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Defence Minister said the mission could be carried out 'without a shot being fired'. Over a million bullets, 700 dead Afghans and 6 VC recommendations later, James Fergusson brings us the real story of this gruelling and bloody war.

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