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Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan | 
 enlarge | Author: Chris Wattie
Publisher: Key Porter Books
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 32.95
Buy New: CDN$ 20.76
You Save: CDN$ 12.19 (37%)
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 564
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
ISBN: 1554700841
Dewey Decimal Number: 971
EAN: 9781554700844
Publication Date: October 10, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book that I read in one evening...'cause it's that good... November 19, 2008
Allan Jacobs (Balgonie, SK, Canada)
The book is well written and I found it an easier read than another great book, 15 Days. It is an outstanding testimony to our Armed Forces. Chris Wattie does a great job describing the mission, the equipment and the soldiers who represent Canada at war. He well represents and describes acts of bravery that cannot be understood by the bystander.
I wholeheartedly disagree with Mr. John W. Chuckman's review of this book.
Whether you like the mission or not, is not the topic here. These soldiers and their leaders are not there to implement or doctor politics but rather to do their jobs, and do their jobs they do. I wonder what his review of any First World War, Second World War and Korean War books would have been like. In each of those wars, Canada went to a foreign land to fight an enemy, that while not on Canadian soil, represented values that were not aligned with general world public opinion. Further,I'm not certain what Canadian's smoking habits have to do with this either.
Mr. Chuckman delves at length into who is the best soldiers on the ground. He makes it seem like we're (Canadian soldiers) big, bad, over equipped street bullies picking on the poor Taliban. The reference of "not very good" is used once or twice in regards to the Taliban's aiming of their AK-47 assault rifles. There are several references to their cunning, planning and execution of war. I found no disrespect for the Taliban in his writing. They (the Taliban) have the advantage of being in their element and that is more than an equalizer. Consider the Americans in Vietnam fighting an enemy that looked no different than their ally on the ground. Firepower is actually THE equalizer in Afghanistan.
These ARE stories of battles. One man fighting hand-to-hand with another is a battle. Nothing should take away from what these platoons did over there. Mr. Chuckman would be hard pressed to debate with any one of these soldiers what a battle should look like. It was they not him who had bullets after RPG's after more bullets being fired at them.
Regardless of how one looks at the book or the politics, our young men and women exhibit the highest professionalism and unbelievable bravery. From Private soldiers to the Officer's leading them, we have to be proud of the job they are doing and the role that they play.
It is touched upon several times in the book about the desire to perform re-constructive work by building schools and clinics. That the Taliban burn them down is for the world to see just how backward they are and why the average Afghan should feel frustrated.
Obviously Mr. Chuckman would prefer to see Afghanistan fall fully back into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies. Maybe he'd think twice about jumping on a train, bus or going to a crowded market here in Canada. We are in this and the terrorists will not forgive and forget that we are and were a part of it. Failure cannot be an option now. Maybe we shouldn't have gone in but we did and I'm proud that our soldiers are punching well above their weight class.
 Contact Charlie---a view from the Canadian soldier's perspective October 28, 2008
Margaret Rule (London Ontario)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Chris Wattie presents a readable fast paced story of one tour of duty to Afghanistan by Charlie Company of the PPCLI in the spring and summer of 2006. Having read Christie Blatchford's 15 Days, I found Wattie's book as well to be from the soldier's perspective. As well, Wattie admires the skill and planning of the commanders, the bravery of the troops and the frustrations of the conflict. As the parent of a soldier who served in another rotation, I found Wattie's book descriptive of what our soldiers lives are like while deployed. The reader feels the emotions and energy of the soldiers as different missions and situations are described.
 CHRIS WATTIE'S CONTACT CHARLIE REMARKS BY JOHN CHUCKMAN October 23, 2008
John W. Chuckman (Citylights, Ontario)
4 out of 31 found this review helpful
With no disrespect for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, Chris Wattie's words are foolish, inaccurate, and little more than propaganda.
First, a fight involving "hundreds" of soldiers should never be called a "battle." The use of the word "battle" simply misrepresents and exaggerates the importance of such events.
Second, calling the Taleban "not very good" shows no understanding and a hell of a lot of American-style arrogance.
Consider the facts of the match-up.
The Taleban face soldiers with Kevlar armor, late-model automatic weapons, sophisticated artillery support, jet-fighter support, armored vehicles, radios, computers, satellite guidance, and a host of other kit. They are well-fed and fit.
Oh, yes, they may have some dud grenades and a jammed piece of artillery here and there, but they are equipped with overwhelming superiority.
The Taleban themselves typically have weapons like AK-47s (a 60-year old weapon) and rifle grenades. They have no body armor, no armored vehicles, and no support. They are poor and not well-fed. They don't even have boots.
If you consider the facts, rather than the comic-book notions of Mr. Wattie, the Taleban are, in fact, incredible soldiers. I'm afraid most Americans, and most Canadians, wouldn't even show up for battle if equipped as these fierce men are.
As for "saving" Afghanistan, well, you do have to ask, saved for whom?
The Taleban live there and represent a substantial portion of the population. We don't like their values, but the Northern Alliance warlords America has used and put into power are no different. We are serving the interests of armed occupiers, working for American interests even Americans do not understand.
Then we have to ask, what do you mean by "saved"?
The latest study done for Bush, suppressed during the election, calls the situation in Afghanistan "grim." Senior British officers have called the effort hopeless. Former head of MI5, Dame Rimmington, has called America's entire post 9/11 operations "over-reaction." No one else in NATO wants to send military support of substance to Afghanistan. If there were a meaningful purpose there, would anyone have to preach to these countries? Of course not.
The Potemkin-village schools that are opened by us can't even be kept open. The teachers cannot be paid. There is no effective central government. Afghanistan is not even a country in the sense that we understand. The Northern Alliance running the provinces, while glad to get some money from us, have no more interest in changing the culture than the Taleban.
And we are to spend on the order of 18 billion dollars for this?
We would have done more good just dropping the money from planes on the people. Afghanistan needs decades of economic growth before the things we don't like about it can possibly change. Just consider how long it has taken just to change the smoking habit in our country. How much longer their centuries-old habits and culture?
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