Reviewed by Chuck0
In a time when war reporting has degenerating from reporting from the hotel bar to reporting from the Pentagon briefing room, it's ironic that some of the best journalism on the ongoing U.S. war against Afghanistan has been penned by a regular columnist for a punk magazine. That journalist being Ted Rall and that magazine being MaximumRocknRoll. Of course, Rall just isn't a writer for MRR, he's a syndicated columnist and cartoonist, Rall has written several books with the latest being a travelogue on his trip to Afghanistan in the closing months of 2001. This book is a collection of his articles on the war, his comics on the war and the Bush administration, and pictures of the people of Afghanistan. Needless to say, Rall's point of view is refreshingly radical and hostile to the official U.S. media line on the war.
This book is not some feel good portrayal of the beleaguered Afghani people. Rall is pretty frank about what life is like in Afghanistan, at least from his perspective as a Western journalist with some experience in the region. Of course, that perspective is going to be skewed when the local look at any Westerner like they are a walking ATM (thanks to the large sums of cash hat were spread around by wealthy TV networks). Still, Rall's book is tough on the U.S.'s war on the Afghani people and largely sympathetic to the Afghani themselves.
Being a war journalist in a country that has practically been bombed back to the stone age is no easy task. It's even tougher when you don't have money to throw around like the big boys from the networks. Most of Rall's book is an account of what it is like to be a journalist in a country like Afghanistan. If you actually are going to go "in country" to do your reporting, you won't even find a lousy hotel to stay in. Most of the journalists who covered the early months of this war stayed with local residents. Rall's account of the living conditions is probably the best contribution that this book makes to understanding the conditions in Afghanistan. Rall slept in unheated rooms on carpets that were crawling with bugs and scorpions. One had to have a local--preferably one that was a good translator–with you if you walked around the towns. Needless to say, the presence of any Westerner was an instant curiosity among the local residents.
While Rall points out the excesses of the corporate media and their reporters, it becomes quite clear that most of the journalists are in the same boat: they don't want to be the next dead journalist making the boat ride in a box crossing the river to Tajikistan. In Rall's account, the journalist who makes that journey is Ulf Stromberg, a Swedish journalist staying in Rall's neighborhood who made the mistake of opening the door one night, to be greeted by a rain of lead from bandits. Stromberg was not the only journalist killed during the period of time that Rall was in Afghanistan. It's easy to root for the independent journalists over the corporate ones, until you realize that they are all just media workers who risk their lives to get the story.
The book includes photos from Rall and Maryanne Patey. Their subjects range from a picture of Rall writing in his guest house to one of imprisoned Taliban POWs, staring through the the sawblades that make up the bars of their jail. Most of the pictures are of Taliban and Alliance soldiers, but there are several that show the process of journalism, including trucks getting stuck in the mud and official press conferences.
Of course, the main attraction of this book are Rall's cartoons, which are noted for their ability to combine humor with concise political analysis. Many of the cartoons here are ones that appeared in the alternative press, mostly skewering the un-elected President Bush and his fascist attitude, but the highlight of this book is the extended graphic travelogue which details Rall's travels and the war as seen through his critical eyes. Rall rips up the official journalism about the war. He reports that cities are being carpet-bombed by the U.S., in contrast to the official line about "pinpoint" bombings. The lives of women don't improve with the change in government as Taliban fighters easily change sides. Most amazingly, Rall relates how quickly one got adjusted to the situation and became bored, despite bombs being dropped everywhere and bullets flying.
The media coverage of the U.S. war against Afghanistan has mostly adhered to the script provided by the Bush administration. But one of the interesting phenomenon after 9-11 was the upsurge in average Americans who looked for news beyond the usual corporate media channels. More Americans were reading non-U.S. media to find out what was happening in Afghanistan. People weren't satisfied with the official answers and were looking for alternatives. Some have faulted for the American Left for being timid after 9-11, but the case can be made that the writers, journalists, and pundits on the Left stepped up to the challenge. Ted Rall was one of these people and his brave, direct journalism was an important alternative to the patriotic media juggernaut.