TITLE: Where War LivesAUTHOR: Paul Watson
STARTED: March 5, 2008
FINISHED:March 17, 2008
PAGES: 367
GENRE: Memoir
FIRST SENTENCE: I was born a rebel with one hand.
SUMMARY: [From amazon.com] A Pulitzer Prize — winning journalist takes us on a personal and historic journey from Mogadishu through Rwanda to Afghanistan and Iraq.
With the click of a shutter the world came to know Staff Sgt. William David Cleveland Jr. as a desecrated corpse. In the split-second that Paul Watson had to choose between pressing the shutter release or turning away, the world went quiet and Watson heard Cleveland whisper: “If you do this, I will own you forever.” And he has.
Paul Watson was born a rebel with one hand, who grew up thinking it took two to fire an assault rifle, or play jazz piano. So he became a journalist. At first, he loved war. He fed his lust for the bang-bang, by spending vacations with guerrilla fighters in Angola, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia, and writing about conflicts on the frontlines of the Cold War. Soon he graduated to assignments covering some of the world’s most important conflicts, including South Africa, Rwanda, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Watson reported on Osama bin Laden’s first battlefield victory in Somalia. Unwittingly, Watson’s Pulitzer Prize—winning photo of Staff Sgt. David Cleveland — whose Black Hawk was shot down over the streets of Mogadishu — helped hand bin Laden one of his earliest propaganda coups, one that proved barbarity is a powerful weapon in a modern media war. Public outrage over the pictures of Cleveland’s corpse forced President Clinton to order the world’s most powerful military into retreat. With each new beheading announced on the news, Watson wonders whether he helped teach the terrorists one of their most valuable lessons.
Much more than a journalist’s memoir, Where War Lives connects the dots of the historic continuum from Mogadishu through Rwanda to Afghanistan and Iraq.
THOUGHTS: This book was everything I hoped it would be and then some. The "and then some," however, I actually could have done without. Even with the "and then some" this is remarkable work of memoir. Watson's life story is inherently dramatic and his lyrical way with prose makes this book emminently readable.
In reviewing this book, I'm having difficulty deciding whether I should focus on Watson's life, how he writes his life, or how he reflects on his life. In Where War Lives, he does all three and, in many ways, it is impossible to separate them. For someone who has spent most of time under the influence of drugs or in war zones, Watson writes in a calm, almost lackadaisical tone. The writing is smooth and serene, even when the situation being discussed is not. I was wowed by Watson's ability to recount his life with complete candor. He does not shy away from mentioning his faults and selfish, life preserving nature. Watson discusses how there were times he was more worried about getting the picture/story than being careful with the life of his interpreters, drivers, bodyguards, and other local helpers. Watson is a man driven by adrenaline and risk, and he does not apologize for it.
Watson has been to nearly every major war zone and hot spot on the globe over the past two decades. His career is made under a hail of bullets and among the genocidaires. The news we've all read about, he's lived. Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq: these are just some of the places where Watson has reported. For all his brilliant work, it's hard to believe he is not better known. But, all this work has caused Watson severe emotional trauma. And this, I think, is why Where War Lives was written.
In many ways, this book almost seems as if it's Watson's way of getting back in touch with the world. Having been diagnosed with a severe case of depression and PTSD, Watson describes how he felt jaded and detached from reality. He smoked pot on a bridge in Rwanda, while counting the bodies floating down the river below him. Where War Lives is written with such genuine self-reflection, one has to think that it's a form of mentral health treatment.
Aside from the last few chapters of this book, where Watson attempts to explain complex political situations, I was enthralled. I wrote my senior politics thesis on Clinton's foreign policy as it related to Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, and Kosovo. Aside from Haiti, Watson lived my thesis. In fact, Watson may be the one person in the world who caused my thesis. He took the picture of the American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Without that image, my thesis (and so many other, more important, things) would never have happened. I believe that is why this book is so amazing to read. Watson blames himself for American inaction in Rwanda and the limited action in Kosovo. Throughout the book, he seems to carry the burdern of death on his shoulders.
In the end, it does not matter that the last few chapters bored me. The rest of the work is the tale of an extraordinary life. Watson writes without sugar coating and in such an eloquent manner he could have been a poet. Where War Lives is fascinating memoir that should not be overlooked.
RATING: 9/10 [Excellent!]
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