Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
January 13, 2009
The Catholic Orangemen of Togo

The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known is a new book by former British ambassador Craig Murray.

Because the British mercenary and war-profiteer Tim Spicer  threatened an expensive libel lawsuit the commercial publisher of the book refrained from distributing it.

Murray has now published the book himself and made it available for free on several Internet sites. You can download your copy from MoA here (zipped pdf, ~1 megabyte).

But reading an even amusing book on the screen is tiresome and Craig Murray deserves to make some money too. You can buy your printed copy from him directly (scroll down) for lousy £ 18 which even includes a £ 1 charity donation.

The books blurb says:

Craig Murray's adventures in Africa from 1997 to 2001 are a rollicking good read. He exposes for the first time the full truth
about the "Arms to Africa" affair which was the first major scandal of
the Blair Years. He lays bare the sordid facts about British mercenary
involvement in Africa and its motives. This is at heart an
extraordinary account of Craig Murray's work in negotiating peace with
the murderous rebels of Sierra Leone, and in acting as the midwife of
Ghanaian democracy. Clearly his efforts were not only difficult but at
times very dangerous indeed. Yet the story is told with great humour.
Not only do we meet Charles Taylor, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jerry Rawlings
and Foday Sankoh, but there are unexpected encounters with others
including Roger Moore, Jamie Theakston and Bobby Charlton! Above all
this book is about Africa. Craig Murray eschews the banal remedies of
the left and right to share with us the deep knowledge and
understanding that comes over 30 years working in or with Africa. Gems
of wisdom and observation scatter the book, as does a deep sense of
moral outrage at the consequences of centuries of European involvement:
even though he explains that much of it was well-intentioned but
disastrous.

Buy it here and post your review in the comments.

Comments

Thanks b

Posted by: par4 | Jan 13 2009 21:04 utc | 1

“I used to think the brain was the most amazing part of the human body. But then I thought: “Hey, what’s telling me that?”
– Emo Philips

Gratzi, b.
One comment that’s technical in nature: I find myself having to reread passages to glean what he’s communicating, and i wonder if this is due to his first-person accounting style, or maybe a particularly British way of writing. I’m sure his intended audience wasn’t some random internet guy in the US (read: me). There are very interesting stories and relationships he’s trying to convey, but the writing is a bit…..dry.
Also, what does this mean?

The book has been subject to approval and minor censorship by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Jan 13 2009 22:20 utc | 2

Jeremiah,
As an ambassador he would have signed the official secrets act and as such any book he writes about his time as a representative of “Her Majesty’s govt” will be subject to approval from the Ministry which he worked for.

Posted by: mo | Jan 13 2009 22:46 utc | 3

Before anyone gets too horrified by the “The book has been subject to approval and minor censorship by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
bit on the grounds that it is evidence of Murray’s duplicity, that he is just another smarmy mouthpiece, they would be wise to read up on the bloke where they will discover that he will go to great lengths including careericide, exile to coventry and bankruptcy accompanied by threats of incarceration to ensure his message gets out if he feels the english government or corporations are trying to censor him about anything he believes important.
This is probably the account Murray wanted to write and the foreign and commonwealth office has decided not to demand the exclusions they normally would since previous run-ins with Mr Murray haven’t succeeded in stopping him – all that was achieved was a bunch of free publicity for his publication.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Jan 13 2009 23:05 utc | 4

Debs, just in case that was aimed at me, I hope I didn’t give that impression. I was pointing out the dry technicality of its meaning. Any censorship from the FCO will have most likely only involved the removal of a name or two from certain events on the grounds of national security. Had they removed anything important, like you say, Mr Murray will have let the world know.

Posted by: mo | Jan 13 2009 23:26 utc | 6

Now, this is the opposite of idle bullshit, thank you. Vivid pictures of the kind of wheeler-dealers that sprout in chaos. Spicer, characteristically, was barking up the wrong tree in kissing government ass. The mining trade was artisanal and not subject to official monopoly, which broke down 50 years ago. The RUF got all the diamonds because they held the territory and they took over the home-grown network of bloodsucking predatory sponsors, augmenting it with press-gangs. A better bet for Spicer’s fiendish plot would have been to secure rutile mines for the government. Only, when he tried something like that in PNG he fucked it up and wound up in the dock. Sandline are the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. That might be why they finally hit paydirt in Iraq – futile clusterfucks are their specialty. But I am not authorized to comment further until I receive detailed propaganda instructions from the sinister top-hatted octopus of international capitalism who sits astride the globe waving moneybags in his tentacles and dismembering babies with his hooked Semitic-looking beak.

Posted by: …—… | Jan 14 2009 0:55 utc | 7

@mo sorry for giving that impression but it certainly wasn’t aimed at you, I was just trying to elucidate a little on the statement you made, which was fine for those of us familiar with Murray but for those that aren’t or who don’t understand the official secrets act system may have thought that the book was another piece of spin.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Jan 14 2009 0:59 utc | 8

Thanks, B. Just put a check in the mail for my copy.

Posted by: Maxcrat | Jan 14 2009 2:03 utc | 9

Gems of wisdom and observation scatter the book, as does a deep sense of moral outrage at the consequences of centuries of European involvement: even though he explains that much of it was well-intentioned but disastrous.
theres no doubt that many of the ex-colonial officers & civil servants who served the British Crown in Africa, India, Malaysia, Pakistan … were well-intentioned. The worth of which must however be factored against the profound sense of paternal cultural/moral superiority that accompanied the entire exercise. And there have been accounts by surviving British ex-colonial officers that confirm that they (in their period of service to the Crown) were no less manipulated by the home offices than the natives were.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jan 14 2009 2:26 utc | 10

Exactly, jbc.
It is the system, based upon a solipsistic worldview, that is corrupt.
The White Man’s Burden has, in this postmodern age, metamorphosized into Obama taking the War on Terror into Afghanistan and Pakistan. Same countries, same worldview, new improved marketing.
The belief that you know how they should live, and that your going to share this insight with them by force of arms, can only be described as pathological.
and so it goes.
The one thing positive which can be said for the CIA-funded human potential movement which sprouted up in the seventies, designed to deflect people from political activism, is that it turned people from improving others to improving themselves. Shoulda stuck with it.

Posted by: Malooga | Jan 14 2009 4:17 utc | 11

Y’all think we might get the Prime Directive ala Star Trek accepted as a prime way of dealing with other countries/cultures — yeah, I know, a cold day in hell.
Will take a look at this book when I’m done babysitting grandson…

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Jan 14 2009 6:24 utc | 12

@ Debs and Mo: I was not making an implication with my question – I’ve never seen that phrase and didn’t know what was meant by it.
I’ve still yet to complete the reading of this book, but I’m coming away with the impression he’s a little unforgiving of some of the characters, which is his prerogative. Many of the people he encounters are simply trying to survive (the locals), and I’m not clear from his writing if he has empathy for them or not. (I wish i still had the doc open – i would cut/paste a couple of sections to illustrate this.)

“Vivid pictures of the kind of wheeler-dealers that sprout in chaos.”

In the same way weeds thrive in my unattended garden – the soil is rich, and nobody comes to thin them out. But you cannot blame the weeds; they’re surviving.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Jan 14 2009 16:08 utc | 13

Murray came on the scene at the stage when everybody’s caught up in the process. That makes looking for string-pulling agents especially reductive. Failing states are natural small-arms entrepots. Arms flood in and mostly get re-exported (in SL you used machetes for routine atrocities). Sandline was a minor nuisance, as most of the trade is with people who don’t ask for permission. The instability spreads – contagion models fit the process very well – which means it gets harder and harder to stop. Around the turn of the century it was threatening most of W. Africa.

Posted by: …—… | Jan 14 2009 17:44 utc | 14

of related interest – useful research in this posting on radio katwe
The Uganda mafia and its tentacles

Posted by: b real | Jan 17 2009 21:46 utc | 15

This is kind of typical for Uganda political polemics and none too verifiable as is but one test of ‘a Reader’s’ proposition would be to inquire about those furtive convoys departing from the Serena or the Sheraton. Sub rosa shipments will be highly dependent on letters of credit because the shippers chain them to obscure control and funds flows. Lately the credit crunch has choked off LOCs for everybody, so if activity has sharply declined this year, you’ve got some weak corroboration. Otherwise it’s probably just aid or MONUC logistics or something.

Posted by: …—… | Jan 18 2009 22:05 utc | 16