[.ca] Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda (ISBN 0415930634)

This book is not just about Rwanda, it is about extremes.:
My humanitarian medical trip this year to Rwanda mandated that I attempt to understand the insanity of the genocide that killed, in 100 days, over one million children, women and men only eight years ago. My first read was the excellent, and highly recommended book: 'We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families' by Philip Gourvitch (1998). My second read was this book, also stellar. This book is not just about Rwanda, it is about extremes; it is about Africa. This is about unbelievable agony, suffering and human catastrophe. 'This is not a pretty' book. Scott Peterson has done a outstanding job in duct-taping a handle on a tragedy that is uncircumscribible. The degree of evil to be encountered in this book is extraordinary. This is a book about degenerate crimes against humanity and how people come to commit such atrocities. Peterson divides the book into three parts: Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda; with Somalia get the lion's share. Sudan comes next and finally, Rwanda (about 70 pages of the 320 paged book). Peterson seeks "to illuminate human tragedy in a way that show how such tragedies may be easier to avoided in Africa, and beyond, in the future." Whether he accomplisha this is your judgement call. As a cynic, I believe that what has been, will be again, and 'history will repeat itself' sooner that we think or want. He breaks down Rwanda's genocide into three primary axioms: 1) Hutu's hatred and fear of the Tutsi's, 2) Catholic Church's' silent support and active disengagement, and finally, 3) the French government's active support before and during the genocide. However clean and persuasive these arguments are they fail to explain the social insanity and the demonic deprivation that took possession of the Hutu population and drove them into a such an unholy orgy of defilement and slaughter. I cannot fault Peterson for failing short of a succinct, logical, sane explanation of such insanity. No one has, nor do I believe ever will, sufficiently explain the "Why" something this insane happens. Notwithstanding, this is a solid, informative work worthy of any library concerned with such matters. Highly recommended..

Sobering and thought-provoking:
In "Me Against My Brother," Scott Peterson tells a terrifingly too-real tale of three ravaged African countries. On its surface, "Me Against My Brother" concerns the events in the war-torn countries of Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. Familiar concepts like war, genocide, and famine are prominently discussed, but they are really just a backdrop for the true story. For all the talk of battles, massacres, and starvation, "Me Against My Brother" really tells a very human story about the ethical failings of people. At its heart, the book examines the culpability for the horrific events it describes, and finds plenty of people to blame, Americans included. Ultimately, the issues discussed in this book are not just African issues, but universal ones. The first segment of the book, covering events in Somalia, mainly addresses the failures of US and UN peacekeeping missions (tellingly, Peterson frequently puts the words "Peacekeeping" and "Peacekeepers" in quotation marks). Peterson describes how what was supposed to be a simple mission to keep the peace and alleviate a famine turned into an all-out mission on the part of the US and UN to catch warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, whatever the price. Quickly, and without a clear-cut reason, the US and UN forces conducted a bungling military campaign that resulted in the deaths of countless innocent Somalis, foreign press, and 18 American servicemen in the firefight immortalized in "Black Hawk Down." Through the examination of the ridiculously excessive and unncessary measures taken by forces who were allegedly to keep peace, Peterson provides a glimpse into the reasons for anti-American sentiment that seems chillingly relevant in these times. The section on Sudan focuses mainly on the endless cycle of violence between the Muslim north and Christian south. Peterson tells of how certain hardline factions in the north hijacked the political process and used religion to justify a never-ending war (this should sound familiar to anyone who reads headlines). The relentless cycle of violence and the tales of unthinkable suffering that come from it only serve to underline the utter pointlessness of the conflict. As the book says, the war has now become an end unto itself; people live solely for the war and know no other way of life. The concluding section on Rwanda concerns itself mainly with the 1994 genocide in which as many as 1 million Tutsis were massacred by the Hutu majority, often with nothing more than clubs and machetes. Perhaps even more depressing than the genocide, however, are the stories of the American politicians who skirted the obligation to act by playing word games in order to avoid using the word "genocide." Ultimately, though, the story of Rwanda turns into a rumination on the very nature of evil. So many Hutus were involved in the killing, often butchering women and children by hand, that one can only conclude that there are a great deal of people capable of perpretating such atrocities under similar circumstances. The tales of the Rwandan genocide force us to confront the fact that a similar dark side lies in most, and perhaps all, people. As British doctor Ian Palmer says in the book's final chapter, the genocide exposed the dark side that we are all afraid to see, and Rwanda is within every one of us. All in all, "Me Against My Brother" is a terrific and illuminating book. Peterson deserves to be commended for providing an unflinching potrait of events in Africa during the 1990's. The issues discussed here can be applied to pretty much any conflict, though, because they're part of what it means to be human. If more people would think seriously about the events described here, then perhaps such tragedies could be prevented in the future.

Famine, combat, and mass graves:
A very brief review of Scott Peterson's macabre book would simply say "Chilling, gruesome, and violent". This book is a must read for anybody curious about the UN or US missions to Africa and the seemingly endless violence that occurs there on massive scales. As I write this, Rwanda is struggling to hold an election after the 1994 Genocide and Liberia seems to be on the brink of spiraling down into a conflict marked by massacres. Mr. Peterson's book makes you wonder how humanity could sink to the level that it has over and over again, but make no mistake, the conflicts in this book devoured women and children as quickly as male combatants. Even the definition of a combatant is blurry in a world where 10 year olds are trained as shock troops. Famine is used as a weapon as the countryside is deliberately ransacked by warlords. Disease and starvation soon join the fray. The scale of the violence becomes unreal. In Rwanda approximately 800,000 people were exterminated in few months. Mostly with machetes and clubs, not machineguns or gas chambers. It is hard to comprehend the personal face to face orgy of destruction that lead time and time again to children being grouped together and beaten to death. This book raises questions about the usefulness of food aid to refugees as it is hijacked by combatants and refugees are forced to move around to allow "combat units" access to the food that the world ships in. It would seem that the meddling of the world isn't helping the larger geo-political situation in these countries and indeed that the only real solution will have to be an African solution as the citizens in these war torn countries decide that peace is worth more than war.

Essential reading:
I first read this book in high school. Now in my third year of Political Science it is sitting dog-eared on my shelf, having been used as a source in countless papers. Peterson is remarkable at combining personal stories with geopolitical events, both an honest and clear-sighted analyzer and a passionate humanist. And most importantly, he tells the truth. The truth, it turns out, is markedly different from what CNN told you.

A Must Read Regarding Our Future & Our Past:
Peterson has written an excellent report on the atrocities that have taken place under our eyes in Africa. Most Americans know about Somalia from "Black Hawk Down" but Peterson reports from a different perspective and brings new light to an old meaning. He reports on what both the UN and the US did wrong while on a "peace mission." I would have hoped we would have learned our lesson but some aspects Peterson describes ring much too true for our involvement in Iraq as well. The most horrifying account that Peterson writes so vividly about is the genocide in Rwanda. How does a world ignore such atrocity? I cried often during the reading of this section. I can't imagine how any country could ignore the pleading of such a dying nation in such a beautiful part of the world. To read about a man living in a wall for months to avoid being murdered, a child hiding under her parents while they were hacked to death, and see pictures of streets lined with death is beyond understandable. This is where our billions in defense should have gone! I believe this book to be a must read for all humanity. From each horrible account something is learned. Africa is a beautiful country on the verge of catastrophe while the rest of the world ignores its pleas. From such anger, bitterness and hate comes furure generations of the same unless the world steps up with bravery and defends a peaceful solution. A billion dollars of understanding would go alot further in this country than the others we chose to toy with. Peterson has brought the injustices to life masterfully. This book NEEDS to be read by anyone who cares about a global existence and our future.