Robert Semrau's book "The Taliban Don't Wave"

[MikeL]

http://www.amazon.ca/Taliban-Dont-Wave-Rob-Semrau/dp/1118261186/ref=sr_1_98?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336522735&sr=1-98

Product Description
Book Description
Captain Robert Semrau’s military trial made international headlines—a Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan arrested for allegedly killing a grievously wounded Taliban soldier in the field. The trial and its outcome are a matter of public record. What you are about to read about the tour of duty that inspired this book is not.

What you are about to read is an emotionally draining and mind-snapping firsthand account of war on the ground in Afghanistan. It’s raw and explosive. Names have been changed to protect the brave and  not so brave alike. 

What you are about to read is an account of soldiers who live, fight and die in a moonscape of a country where it’s sometimes hard to tell your friend from your enemy. It’s about trying to hold it together when a mortar attack is ripping your friends and allies apart, and your world unravels before your eyes.

Rob Semrau wrote this book to tell us about the sheer hell that is the Stan, but also to recognize the incredible courage and compassion he witnessed in the heat of battle. The soldiers you are about to meet and the events that befall them will linger on in your mind long after you have closed these pages.


From the Back Cover
Captain Robert Semrau’s military trial made international headlines—a Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan arrested for allegedly killing a grievously wounded Taliban soldier in the field. The trial and its outcome are a matter of public record. What you are about to read about the tour of duty that inspired this book is not.

What you are about to read is an emotionally draining and mind-snapping firsthand account of war on the ground in Afghanistan. It’s raw and explosive. Names have been changed to protect the brave and  not so brave alike. 

What you are about to read is an account of soldiers who live, fight and die in a moonscape of a country where it’s sometimes hard to tell your friend from your enemy. It’s about trying to hold it together when a mortar attack is ripping your friends and allies apart, and your world unravels before your eyes.

Rob Semrau wrote this book to tell us about the sheer hell that is the Stan, but also to recognize the incredible courage and compassion he witnessed in the heat of battle. The soldiers you are about to meet and the events that befall them will linger on in your mind long after you have closed these pages.

 

[dogger1936]

My roto. I will be buying this book and putting aside to read one day.

 

[Bernadine]

I will definitely read this book.
Thank you for the recommendation.

 

[ArmyRick]

I think I will snap up a copy of it too.

 

[Ignatius J. Reilly]

Sounds like a good read.  Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[jollyjacktar]

He's a good man in my opinion who got shafted, I want to see what he has to say.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Story and photos at link below.  I will look for his book when it comes out.

Ex-soldier accused of murdering insurgent breaks silence
The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 22, 2012 7:06 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2012 7:09 PM ET 

The day he was alleged to have killed a wounded, unarmed Taliban fighter, Capt. Robert Semrau watched in dismay as stoned Afghan soldiers passed around "King Kong" marijuana joints and carried their rifles like baseball bats.  The former Canadian infantry officer, who was at the centre of a national debate over mercy killing in war, has broken his silence in a book that paints a stark, searing portrait of the chaos in the Afghan war.  An advance copy of the book was obtained by The Canadian Press.

Throughout his trial for second-degree murder and in the aftermath of his dismissal from the military, Semrau has been silent about what happened on Oct. 19, 2008, following a horrific firefight.  And anyone looking for a tabloid-type revelation, an explanation — or even contrition — in his book, The Taliban Don't Wave, will be disappointed.  In passages devoid of sentiment and reflection, Semrau recounts the events leading to the discovery of the wounded insurgent in an almost machine gun-like narrative.

'Small, fist-like hole' in stomach

The dying enemy fighter had "a small, fist-like hole in his stomach, with a partially severed foot and an injured knee," he writes.  Some of the Afghan soldiers he was mentoring debated whether the man was dead.  "Captain Shafiq Ullah said the man was torn apart, had lost all of his blood in a nearby stream, and was ninety per cent dead," Semrau writes.  "And although they differed in their testimony as to the manner and what was said before the incident, two witnesses basically agreed that I had shot the insurgent two times, in what was later dubbed by the international press as a mercy killing."

His narrative sticks carefully to the public record laid down during his 2010 court martial for second-degree murder and attempted murder, charges of which he was acquitted.  He adds nothing about his motivation and defends only his silence.  "As a Canadian citizen, I had the right to remain silent during my trial. I could not be forced to testify," Semrau wrote.  "I chose to remain silent during my murder trial, and I never gave testimony on the stand, nor did I make a statement for the police. The truth of that moment will always be between me and the insurgent."

About 90 per cent of the book recounts his harrowing 2008 tour of Afghanistan as an officer helping to train often dishevelled, disorganized and diffident Afghan troops in the field.  His recollection of the day leading up to the killing was stark and terrifying.  He describes a dizzying battle, where the confusion of a uniformless guerrilla war was compounded by Afghan government intelligence agents mixing in with Taliban ahead of Semrau's unit, while insurgents planted bombs and booby traps behind them.

Canadian soldiers mentoring Afghan units had been called away from the fight in Kandahar to help the besieged British Army in Lashkar Gah, the capital of neighbouring Helmand province.  He wrote of how some Afghan troops not with his unit showed up the first morning of the battle dishevelled, barefoot with their boots slung over their shoulders and sporting long beards.  "Yep, they were totally, inexcusably high," Semrau recounted.  "They began passing around what could only be described as King Kong joints and started puffing away, their glassy eyes not really taking anything onboard (but they did like to smile a lot and giggle to themselves)."

By that point in the war, Ottawa and NATO had embraced the notion that training a competent army and police force was the only way out of Afghanistan.  Semrau's chronicle stands in sharp contrast to the picture both the Harper government and the army tried to paint of their Afghan allies throughout that time.  Instead of fearless, wily warriors, Semrau found himself saddled with ill-disciplined troops.  With a nearby unit pinned down in crushing ambush in the hours before the fateful shooting, Semrau argued with the Afghan officer whom he was mentoring.  Captain Shafiq Ullah had refused to mount a rescue mission to extract the trapped soldiers, a siege that was only broken by the rattle of a heavy machine-gun of an American AH-64 Apache.  The attack helicopter left a bloody scene of devastation behind, including the wounded Taliban. 

In convicting and sentencing Semrau on the lesser charge of disgraceful conduct, the judge, Lt.-Col. Jean-Guy Perron said: "Shooting a wounded, unarmed insurgent is so fundamentally contrary to our values, doctrine and training that it is shockingly unacceptable behaviour. You made a decision that will cast a shadow on you for the rest of your life."  Only the epilogue is devoted to the charges against him and the heart-rending episodes associated with the trial and the possibility of facing jail time.  Semrau acknowledged he took issue with some of the testimony against him, but never said what he found objectionable about the accounts given to the court.  "At least in combat, I could act and react, but in court, I couldn't jump to my feet and shout 'That's a damn lie!"' he writes.

Outpouring of support

There was an outpouring of support for him in the aftermath of the charges, including a high-profile Facebook campaign and accusations in some columns that Semrau was being made a scapegoat because of the army's fear of another Somalia-type scandal.  The torture and murder of a Somali teen by soldiers of the disbanded airborne regiment in the 1990s left an indelible mark on the military.  Semrau does not complain about his fate in the book, nor criticize the institution that cast him out.

"Looking back on it all now, with hindsight and more clarity than I had at the time, I am amazed that I survived with a shred of sanity," he writes.  "But self-pity and despair were never options for me, because my wife and daughters were counting on me, and I wasn't about to fail them."  He said it "broke his heart" to be kicked out of the military.

Semrau leaves the morality of what he did for others to debate and decide.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/08/22/semrau-taliban-book.html

 

[The Bread Guy]

On pre-order status at Amazon.ca here.

 

[Journeyman]

I'm very surprised at the comments following the article; an overwhelming percentage of commenters supporting Rob Semrau, saying that he did the right, ethical thing given the circumstances.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Of course the Taliban wave- every time you pass an ANP checkpoint or vehicle the Taliban are the ones waving at you.

Not a big fan of fiction (ha) but I'll pick this book up.

 

[MikeL]

A thread was already started in May ref this book

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/105831.0.html

 

[mariomike]

A thread was already started in May ref this book

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/105831.0.html

31 pages of background:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/82558.0.html?PHPSESSID=1fbd7itu5ji17hqjenk79m7sh5

 

[The Bread Guy]

Merging now, out.

Edited to add:  I've just merged the book threads, so I'd appreciate it if we could keep discussion here focused on the book, not the incident amply covered & discussed elsewhere

31 pages of background:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/82558.0.html?PHPSESSID=1fbd7itu5ji17hqjenk79m7sh5

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[The Bread Guy]

Bumped with a couple of links to what look like previews of at least bits of the new book at Scribd.com and Google Books - enjoy!

 

[Canadian.Trucker]

I think I'll get this book.  It looks like a fairly forthright telling of the experiences he had.  I talked with Rob just before he deployed overseas, I regret I never had the chance to talk with him when he got home.

Got a very interesting perspective though from some of the goings on from his 2IC.

 

[acen]

I read the preview and I think that I will pick up the book as a result. Great "readability", though it will be a little more challenging for civvies without mil-speak abilities.

 

[fake penguin]

I read this book, his first contact caught my attention. I know the soldier that he refers to in the tower. Two things stand out. My friend said that his platoon was on security duty at that time and he was by himself. Since he was by himself when he recieved fire, his platoon warrant came rushing down in a gator. So why was the Robert talking to the pte/cpl and not the warrant. It sounds to me from reading the book, that the pte/cpl individual was by himself the whole time.
Also

 

[fake penguin]

Some how my reply was sent before i finished. I guess i just didn't like how Robert protrayed my friend, so i'am a little defensive. I wasn't there just my friends version and his are different.

 

[aesop081]

my friends version and his are different.

Something that is not unusual.

 

[Infanteer]

Welcome to the 4,000 year old world of war stories.