Murray Brewster - The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan

A light summer rain pecked at the assembly of veterans, dignitaries and villagers in Pourville, France, on a warm summer day in August 2007. A crowd had gathered at the war memorial beside the seaside community's idyllic, stone church, just behind the empty, silent beach. Everyone was there to listen to Canada's Veterans Affairs minister reflect on the long-past, but not forgotten, battle of Dieppe. Soldiers who'd survived the slaughter huddled under umbrellas and were draped with see-through, plastic, disposable bags to keep the rain off. Everyone rightfully fussed over them. They listened solemnly and politely as Greg Thompson spoke. On that horrific day in August 1942, 903 Canadians died. With the hindsight of history, it is celebrated as a victory.

Some of the vets seated in wheelchairs looked as though they'd nodded off until the minister intoned the well-worn narrative: For every life sacrificed at Dieppe, ten lives were saved two years later at D-Day by what the Allies learned. You could sense some of the old soldiers shifting uncomfortably in their seats before the sound of a metal cane banging defiantly on the pavement rang through the crowd.

Bullshit, said one vet, his jowl-creased face red with anger.

He growled loud enough that some of Thompson's staff standing nearby cringed and then smiled painfully, but the minister never missed a beat. He kept right on speaking. I was never sure whether he'd heard the protest.

The reality of that vet's experience did not match the politically acceptable narrative, the same narrative that has been handed down to us through the years. Canadian soldiers who lived through the nightmare of the Balkans in the 1990s would say the same thing. They were dropped into the middle of a shooting war while everyone back home celebrated and called it peacekeeping. The disconnect between the stories we tell ourselves and the gritty, often uncomfortable reality was my prime motivation for what you are about to read.

The war in Afghanistan is like few other wars, in terms of its length, complexity, ignorance and sheer brutality. It has featured aspects and events that even today defy understanding. Despite boatloads of newspaper ink and thousands of hours of airtime, our collective appreciation of what the country has been through remains painfully shallow and fleeting.

Many of my recollections of my time covering Afghanistan have been refreshed through the time and generosity of the hundreds of people whom I've interviewed. Some of them have been quoted anonymouslyor on background, as it's called in the world of journalism. Without their patience, contributions and courage, some of the elements of this narrative would not have been possible. In almost all cases, these sources are senior government officials, diplomats or officers who are still serving or whose positions depend upon absolute discretion. They have contributed, without malice, to my understanding of this war, and hopefully to yours as well.

The country's combat mission in Afghanistan dragged on for more than five years and throughout that time I had the privilege and sometimes the burden of seeing it up close, both on the mean streets of Kandahar and in the equally hard-nosed back rooms of Ottawa. Sometimes, it feels as though I've covered nothing but Afghanistan. What you are about to get is my unvarnished take on what I've witnessed. Make no mistake: this is not a history book. I'll leave history to the historians to sort out. My objective in writing this account was to give you a sense of what it looked and felt like to be in the midst of the tempest. If what you are about to read makes you angry, makes you cry, makes you laugh or even prompts you to fling this volume across the room, then I will have accomplished my goal. Bronze it or burn it when you're done, but read it. Because war and the blood spilled these last few years is too important to forgetor be left to a cyclone of spin. Despite what some would have us believe, war is never neat, never tidy, never fully understood. If this book makes you pause for a moment in the day-to-day hubbub to reflect on the events of the last few yearseven for a short momentthen it will truly have been worth the effort.

Kandahar, Afghanistan

July 2011