Dirty War: Rhodesia and Chemical Biological Warfare 1975-1980

[davidbfpo]

A response from an ex-Rhodesian "lurker":

A sobering read. I share your view not really effective and probably quite counterproductive: it was a small effort but quite lethal, But not strategic like so much else in the war. What disturbs me most is that all the anti-Rhodesians can point to the illegal use of chemicals and bracket us with Bashir Assad and Saddam.

[davidbfpo]

A review of the book by Paul Moorcraft, a writer on wars and for a time resident in the region IIRC, via CBRN magazine website.

There are some remarks I am not familiar with, e.g. Anglo-US removal of South Africa's CBW weapons. Anyway I digress and so his last paragraph as a "taster":

or specialists, Dr Cross’s book is very impressive. He is no stylist, however, and lack of hard documentary evidence enforces necessary speculation and some unnecessary repetition. or specialists, Dr Cross’s book is very impressive. This is likely to be the last word on the subject. Few
Few care about the white supremacists’ last stand in southern Africa, and yet the subject is very pertinent. It shows how a very basic and amateurish programme can inflict thousands of deaths in an asymmetric war. No wonder al-Qaeda and Daesh have been so fixated on the same type of evil endeavour.

Link:http://www.cbrneworld.com/_uploads/download_magazines/Book_review_Rhodesia.pdf20,678v

[davidbfpo]

I have closed this thread, pending any updates spotted and after thought it has not been merged into the main thread on Rhodesia:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...-original-RLI)