They're all Savage Wars

It is rather unusual that Murray Brewster has selected the recent war in Afghanistan as the one deserving of the title The Savage War  As wars go, it's towards the tame side.  No chemical or nuclear weapons have been deployed and combined fatalities (civilians and combatants on both sides) for the entire war clock in around ~9000 per year.  The mean average DAY in World War One had more fatalities than that. 

This isn't to say that it is full of sunshine, rainbows and smiles.  Ultimately it is still a war, and they aren't pretty things.  People die, get wounded, lose thier property and livelihoods.  Brewster, a Canadian Press reporter, tells interesting tales of some of the casualties, how they impact the people around him and how the civilian population suffers.

Though most interesting are the people who are finding ways to survive and even profit from the war.  Brewster facilitated many interviews through local fixers, and their stories are among the more interesting the book has to offer.  And also among the more tragic, as one is imprisoned and ultimately killed because of the nature of his work. 

Brewster's book does little to place the conflict in the history of the world.  He makes a couple of mentions of the previous Russian invasion of Afghanistan, tangentially mentioning the scorched earth policies of the Soviets and stating that several of the weapons used by the Taliban originate from the communist nation.

To gain a bit of insight to that earlier war, it is useful to watch the ITN (a British TV station) documentary Modern Warfare: Russia in Afghanistan.  It is available on YouTube at  Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

While Brewster focuses on the conflict as it influences the life of an individual or tiny group through his writing, the ITN documentary is made with the old-school macro level of analysis.  There are strengths and failings to both.  It is difficult to gauge just what is going on in the total war effort though Brewster's words but with the ITN documentary it is hard to fell any empathy because you never get to know anyone.

Ultimately, Brewster's work is an excellent glimpse into the war, but paraphrasing his own words, it is looking at a panorama through a straw.  It offers fantastic insight to the political decisions back in Ottawa, gives a face to the Canadian war effort in Kandahar, but doesn't quite feel complete. 

And by it's nature as something published so close in time to the war itself, it does not include any reflection on the events in the book.  Luckily, such things can be penned at a later date and included as a new afterward.  I'd certainly give it a read when it came out.