Certain Death In Sierra Leone

Author : Damien Lewis
Publisher : Random House
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2018-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781448165681

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Operation Certain Death by Damien Lewis Pdf

This book chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two - Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by guerrilla gang the West Side Boys in the Sierra Leone jungle. The West Side Boys were a strange-looking bunch, wearing pink shades, shower caps, fluorescent wigs and voodoo charms they believed made them invulnerable to bullets - an impression re-enforced by ganja, heroine, crack cocaine and gallons of sweet palm wine. In 1999 a twelve man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers, who were training government troops in Sierra Leone, were captured and held hostage by the West Side Boys. They were held prisoner in a fortified jungle hideaway, with severed heads decorating the palisades, defended by some 400 heavily armed soldiers. Operation Barras, the rescue mission, was a combined force of 100 Paras, twelve members of the Special Boat Squadron, helicopters from the Navy and RAF and, spearheading the operation, 40-strong D squadron of the SAS. Against amazing odds the hostages were rescued - over 150 of the enemy were killed. Operation Certain Death is a thrilling true story of all out war. No hostages taken. Blood-letting on a vast scale inflicted on a very blood-thirsty enemy. A gripping piece of true military history, perfect for fans of action adventure stories and anyone interested in the top secret division of the British Army.

Author : Will Fowler
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2012-06-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782000686

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Certain Death in Sierra Leone by Will Fowler Pdf

In September 2000 the notorious militia gang, 'West Side Boys' kidnapped eleven British soldiers in Sierra Leone and Operation Barras was launched as the rescue operation. Fast roping in from helicopters, the SAS soldiers engaged in a heavy firefight with the militia, killing several, and capturing their leader. Meanwhile the Paras advanced on foot, fighting their way through a village to recover the Land Rovers abandoned by the kidnapped soldiers. The operation was a complete success, with all the soldiers being rescued. This daring raid is brought to life with specially commissioned artwork, detailed maps and overhead shots to recreate one of the greatest hostage-rescue success stories.

Author : Will Fowler
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 66 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2012-06-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781849082761

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Certain Death in Sierra Leone by Will Fowler Pdf

In September 2000 the notorious militia gang, 'West Side Boys' kidnapped eleven British soldiers in Sierra Leone and Operation Barras was launched as the rescue operation. Fast roping in from helicopters, the SAS soldiers engaged in a heavy firefight with the militia, killing several, and capturing their leader. Meanwhile the Paras advanced on foot, fighting their way through a village to recover the Land Rovers abandoned by the kidnapped soldiers. The operation was a complete success, with all the soldiers being rescued. This daring raid is brought to life with specially commissioned artwork, detailed maps and overhead shots to recreate one of the greatest hostage-rescue success stories.

Author : Damien Lewis
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 504 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015058734933

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Operation Certain Death by Damien Lewis Pdf

Lewis chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two - Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by the guerrilla gang, the West Side Boys, in the Sierra Leone jungle.

Author : Ishmael Beah
Publisher : Penguin Canada
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2013-07-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780143190363

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A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah Pdf

At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah fled attacking rebels in Sierra Leone and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal. This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Author : Hilton Fyle
Publisher : Universal-Publishers
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1581127162

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Sierra Leone by Hilton Fyle Pdf

An amazing survival story which can easily pass for a thriller in the field of fiction. But it is true. Journalist Hilton Fyle packs his bags and heads back home to Sierra Leone after 20 years as a star broadcaster with the BBC in London England, during which he became a household name in Africa and most of the English-speaking world. His new challenge is to participate in the new democracy that the United States and its allies are planting in the country, after 25 years of dictatorship and oppression. Unfortunately, he gets a bad deal from the new, "democratic" government of president Tejan Kabba. His newspaper is forced to close after publishing a "Corruption" story involving two cabinet ministers. Kabba is overthrown in May 1997 and is planning to return with military force. But journalist Hilton Fyle uses his FM radio station to campaign for a peaceful return. Kabba does return with a bang. His opponents are shot and burned alive on the streets of the capital. Fyle escapes instant death, but he is beaten, imprisoned, tried and sent to Death Row awaiting execution. The climax of it all is that he walks out of Death Row without the consent of the government or the prison authorities. All this would not have happened he says, if United Nations peacemakers in Sierra Leone had not played a "dirty game."

Author : Herbert C. Northcott,Donna M. Wilson
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2016-07-07
Category : Bereavement
ISBN : 9781442634565

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Dying and Death in Canada, Third Edition by Herbert C. Northcott,Donna M. Wilson Pdf

"Dying and Death in Canada offers a comprehensive discussion of dying, death, and bereavement from a Canadian perspective. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and several new topics have been added, including assisted suicide and active euthanasia, end of life care, emerging trends in funerary practices, and changing conceptualizations and interventions in the grieving process. A glossary has also been added along with end-of-chapter review questions and an appendix listing recent and seminal movies, television programs, documentary films, and other visual media sources dealing with dying and death. The new edition includes 22 black and white photos, 4 figures, and 3 tables."--

Author : Mariatu Kamara
Publisher : Annick Press
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2008-09-12
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781554512140

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The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara Pdf

As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry. But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soldiers, many no older than children themselves, attacked and tortured Mariatu. During this brutal act of senseless violence they cut off both her hands. Stumbling through the countryside, Mariatu miraculously survived. The sweet taste of a mango, her first food after the attack, reaffirmed her desire to live, but the challenge of clutching the fruit in her bloodied arms reinforced the grim new reality that stood before her. With no parents or living adult to support her and living in a refugee camp, she turned to begging in the streets of Freetown. As told to her by Mariatu, journalist Susan McClelland has written the heartbreaking true story of the brutal attack, its aftermath and Mariatu’s eventual arrival in Toronto where she began to pull together the pieces of her broken life with courage, astonishing resilience and hope.

Author : Teun Voeten
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2011-04-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781429982009

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How de Body? by Teun Voeten Pdf

In 1998, acclaimed photojournalist Teun Voeten headed to Sierra Leone for what he thought would be a standard assignment on the child soldiers there. But the cease-fire ended just as he arrived, and the clash between the military junta and the West African peace-keeping troops forced him to hide in the bush from rebels who were intent on killing him. How de Body? ("how are you?" in Sierra Leone's Creole English) is a dramatic account of the conflict that has been raging in the country for nearly a decade-and how Voeten nearly became a casualty of it. Accessible and conversational, it's a look into the dangerous diamond trade that fuels the conflict, the legacy of war practices such as forced amputations, the tragic use of child soldiers, and more. The book is also a tribute to the people who never make the headlines: Eddy Smith, a BBC correspondent who eventually helps Voeten escape; Alfred Kanu, a school principal who risks his life to keep his students and teachers going amidst the bullets and raids; and Padre Victor, who runs a safe haven for ex-child soldiers; among others. Featuring Voeten's stunning black-and-white photos from his multiple trips to the conflict area, How de Body? is a crucial testament to a relatively unknown tragedy.

Author : Paul Farmer
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 688 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780374716981

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Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds by Paul Farmer Pdf

“Paul Farmer brings his considerable intellect, empathy, and expertise to bear in this powerful and deeply researched account of the Ebola outbreak that struck West Africa in 2014. It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book.” —Bill and Melinda Gates "[The] history is as powerfully conveyed as it is tragic . . . Illuminating . . . Invaluable." —Steven Johnson, The New York Times Book Review In 2014, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea suffered the worst epidemic of Ebola in history. The brutal virus spread rapidly through a clinical desert where basic health-care facilities were few and far between. Causing severe loss of life and economic disruption, the Ebola crisis was a major tragedy of modern medicine. But why did it happen, and what can we learn from it? Paul Farmer, the internationally renowned doctor and anthropologist, experienced the Ebola outbreak firsthand—Partners in Health, the organization he founded, was among the international responders. In Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, he offers the first substantive account of this frightening, fast-moving episode and its implications. In vibrant prose, Farmer tells the harrowing stories of Ebola victims while showing why the medical response was slow and insufficient. Rebutting misleading claims about the origins of Ebola and why it spread so rapidly, he traces West Africa’s chronic health failures back to centuries of exploitation and injustice. Under formal colonial rule, disease containment was a priority but care was not – and the region’s health care woes worsened, with devastating consequences that Farmer traces up to the present. This thorough and hopeful narrative is a definitive work of reportage, history, and advocacy, and a crucial intervention in public-health discussions around the world.

Author : Fred Marafono,Hamish Ross
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2011-07-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9781848849761

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From SAS to Blood Diamond Wars by Fred Marafono,Hamish Ross Pdf

Alcibiades is one of the most famous (or infamous) characters of Classical Greece. A young Athenian aristocrat, he came to prominence during the Peloponnesian War (429-404 BC) between Sparta and Athens. Flamboyant, charismatic (and wealthy), this close associate of Socrates persuaded the Athenians to attempt to stand up to the Spartans on land as part of an alliance he was instrumental in bringing together. Although this led to defeat at the Battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, his prestige remained high. He was also a prime mover in Athens' next big strategic gambit, the Sicilian Expedition of 415 BC, for which he was elected as one of the leaders. Shortly after arrival in Sicily, however, he was recalled to face charges of sacrilege allegedly committed during his pre-expedition reveling. Jumping ship on the return journey, he defected to the Spartans.Alcibiades soon ingratiated himself with the Spartans, encouraging them to aid the Sicilians (ultimately resulting in the utter destruction of the Athenian expedition) and to keep year-round pressure on the Athenians. He then seems to have overstepped the bounds of hospitality by sleeping with the Spartan queen and was soon on the run again. He then played a devious and dangerous game of shifting loyalties between Sparta, Athens and Persia. He had a hand in engineering the overthrow of democracy at Athens in favor of an oligarchy, which allowed him to return from exile, though he then opposed the increasingly-extreme excesses of that regime. For a time he looked to have restored Athens' fortunes in the war, but went into exile again after being held responsible for the defeat of one of his subordinates in a naval battle. This time he took refuge with the Persians, but as they were now allied to the Spartans, the cuckolded King Agis of Sparta was able to arrange his assassination by Persian agents.There has been no full length biography of this colorful and important character for twenty years. Professor Rhodes brings the authority of an internationally recognized expert in the field, ensuring that this will be a truly significant addition to the literature on Classical Greece.

Author : Douglas Farah,Stephen Braun
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2010-12-14
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781118038987

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Merchant of Death by Douglas Farah,Stephen Braun Pdf

Praise for Merchant of Death "A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer--a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses--the international arms trade." —Peter L. Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know "Viktor Bout is like Osama bin Laden: a major target of U.S. intelligence officials who time and again gets away. Farah and Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world and thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U.S. government money to assist the war in Iraq. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting." —Michael Isikoff, coauthor of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War "Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun are two of the toughest investigative reporters in the country. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries." —Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 "In Merchant of Death, two of America's finest reporters have performed a major public service, turning over the right rocks that reveal the brutal international arms business at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In Viktor Bout, they have given us a new Lord of War, a man who knows no side but his own, and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in time to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable." —James Risen, author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration "An extraordinary and timely piece of investigative reporting, Merchant of Death is also a vividly compelling read. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times--and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U.S. military in Iraq--is a stomach-churning indictment of the policy failures and moral contradictions of the world's most powerful governments, including that of the United States." —Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad Two respected journalists tell the incredible story of Viktor Bout, the Russian weapons supplier whose global network has changed the way modern warfare is fought. Bout’s vast enterprise of guns, planes, and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided both militant Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan and the American military in Iraq. This book combines spy thrills with crucial insights on the shortcomings of a U.S. foreign policy that fails to confront the lucrative and lethal arms trade that erodes global security.

Author : Susan Sontag
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2013-10-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781466853577

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Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag Pdf

A brilliant, clear-eyed consideration of the visual representation of violence in our culture--its ubiquity, meanings, and effects. Considered one of the greatest critics of her generation, Susan Sontag followed up her monumental On Photography with an extended study of human violence, reflecting on a question first posed by Virginia Woolf in Three Guineas: How in your opinion are we to prevent war? "For a long time some people believed that if the horror could be made vivid enough, most people would finally take in the outrageousness, the insanity of war." One of the distinguishing features of modern life is that it supplies countless opportunities for regarding (at a distance, through the medium of photography) horrors taking place throughout the world. But are viewers inured—or incited—to violence by the depiction of cruelty? Is the viewer’s perception of reality eroded by the daily barrage of such images? What does it mean to care about the sufferings of others far away? First published more than twenty years after her now classic book On Photography, which changed how we understand the very condition of being modern, Regarding the Pain of Others challenges our thinking not only about the uses and means of images, but about how war itself is waged (and understood) in our time, the limits of sympathy, and the obligations of conscience.

Author : Jason Woods
Publisher : Frontline Books
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2022-09-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399040198

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Paras in Action by Jason Woods Pdf

The date is the 6 June 1944. The paratroopers on board the aircraft are crammed together, joking and singing over the drone of the engines, none of them dwelling on the gnawing fear in their guts. They reach the French coastline, and everyone goes quiet when loud explosions and flashes erupt around the aircraft. Pilots desperately dodge and swerve through the cool night air while the men hold firm, preparing to jump. They reach the open door; the green light flicks on and they leap without hesitation into a sky lit up by flak, ready to meet their fate. One after another, thousands of white parachutes billow out and the men fall through the air not knowing where they might land or if they will even survive the drop; but their minds are set. They are clear about their mission and its critical importance as part of the bigger picture. Some ’chutes do not open, weapons and kit are torn off in the slipstream, and anti-aircraft guns pick men off and many never make it to the ground alive. The Normandy landings of 1944 were just one of the many famous operations in the stunning history of the Paras. This book by former paratrooper Jason Woods gives the reader an unprecedented snapshot of the role that these brave and determined paratroopers have played throughout their history, demonstrating not only the courage, strength and fitness of the men who make up this mighty regiment, but also their intelligence, compassion, and wicked sense of humor. This powerful journey through aspects of all the key wars and conflicts that the regiment has been engaged in over the last eighty years is made through the eyes of those who served. The book reveals how the Paras have become seen as an elite fighting force, feared by those who have had the misfortune to come up against them on the field of battle. This book covers challenging operations in Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. It includes an exciting overview of Operation Telic in Iraq, the epic battles in Afghanistan, and subsequent withdrawal of all British citizens and troops from Kabul in 2021, on Operation Pitting. Packed with short interviews and poignant quotes, many original and never seen before, from current and former Paras, the author highlights the regiment’s constant evolution, as the battlefield conditions have changed, into today’s modern 16 Air Assault Brigade Rapid Reaction Force and Special Forces Support Group, while always maintaining the core standards and ethos embodied in the regimental motto Utrinque Paratus – ‘Ready for Anything’. Finally, get a glimpse into the transition many Paras make when they eventually leave the regiment and join the secretive private security industry, known as the ‘Circuit’.

Author : Thomas Masterman Winterbottom
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 1803
Category : Medicine
ISBN : HARVARD:32044089031991

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An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone by Thomas Masterman Winterbottom Pdf