CP journalist offers blunt assessment of Canada's role in the Afghan war
Includes exclusive interview with Richard Colvin, detailing motivation for taking on the government, and the repercussions he faced
(October 3, 2011 – TORONTO): New revelations about Canada's greatest battle in Kandahar, the motivations of detainee whistleblower Richard Colvin and a stark portrait of the PMO at war highlight the first comprehensive account of Canada’s Afghan war by Canadian Press journalist Murray Brewster.
Many have asked: What happened in Afghanistan? What went wrong? Brewster’s book, The Savage War, tackles those questions head on. Having spent the better part of five years covering the war, including 15 months on the ground in Afghanistan, Brewster offers a candid behind-the-scenes take on the conflict, which at times consumed the nation.
More importantly, Brewster provides analysis and critique of the Canadian politics and Afghan corruption that permeated the war. Through eyewitness accounts, exclusive interviews, and access to classified documents, he reveals:
- Deep behind the scenes, divisions among NATO, including stinging criticism of Canada's prosecution of the 2006 landmark battle Operation Medusa by both allied commanders and Afghan authorities.
- Exclusive interviews with Richard Colvin and NDP Leader Jack Layton.
- Key cabinet ministers were kept in the dark about important decisions by the prime minister's office, including the creation of the Manley Panel and Stephen Harper's stunning 2008 declaration that all troops would be brought home from Afghanistan by 2011.
- How U.S. military intelligence failed to catch the Taliban build up in Kandahar during 2006 and dismissed Canadian warnings of an imminent threat on the doorstep of Afghanistan's second-largest city.
- How U.S. diplomats campaigned for the removal of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president's troublesome half-brother, from Kandahar.
- How a frustrated Bush Administration threatened in 2007 to pull U.S. helicopters out of southern Afghanistan unless reluctant NATO allies played a bigger role in the widening war.
- The extent to which Afghan powerbrokers went to undercut and sabotage what Canada was trying to accomplish in Kandahar.
- How U.S., NATO and Afghan powerbrokers condoned the use of a militia force to assassinate Taliban commanders.
Murray Brewster (Ottawa) is the Senior Defence Correspondent with The Canadian Press. While not covering the war in Afghanistan, he has reported from London, Paris, Washington and other NATO capitals. He has been interviewed on CBC, CTV, and interviewed on radio stations across the country. He also has given journalism lectures to the Canadian and U.S. militaries, as well as to Canadian journalists associations. Brewster is the recipient of 11 national awards for broadcast journalism, the Ross Munro Award for war reporting and was a finalist in the 2010 National Newspaper Awards for defense reporting.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Erin Kelly
John Wiley & Sons Canda
Email: ekelly@wiley.com
Phone: 416-646-4582
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