Books: What Petraeus had before him

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, September 28, 2009 - 2:40 PM Share

In this blog last Friday, we carried a photo of Petraeus sitting in one of his headquarters, I think with a French general at his side. Tom Nissley of Amazon, a prince among men, wondered aloud in his blog just what was the book Petraeus had on the table in front of him. It turns out to be Wildcat, a French tome about being an independent French journalist during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war. I wouldn't worry about this book -- being a French journalist is like being a German chef. 

UPDATE on Belgian authors and French generals: Fwiw, I am told that the author of Wildcat is Belgian, not French. But the foreign officer sitting next to Petraeus in the photo is  France's chairman of the joint chiefs, General Georgelin.  

AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:FRANCE, GERMANY, MILITARY
 

OOFDA

2:55 PM ET

September 28, 2009

German Chefs

Actually, German chefs are pretty good...for example, Wolfgang Puck? (Although he is actually Austrian). It's the English chefs that have the suposedly bad rep.

 

TOM RICKS

3:03 PM ET

September 28, 2009

Nah

English chefs now good. German cooking still bad.

Fyi, I see that the author in question is a Belgian journalist. Like Tintin, I guess.

 

STEVE C

4:37 PM ET

September 28, 2009

Tom, You do a disservice. I

Tom,

You do a disservice. I know little about German chefs but French journalists - and particularly those who cover conflict - I know very well indeed.

I haven't read the book but the story of French coverage of the 91 Gulf war is well known among war correspondents. Having been blocked out of the pool system set up by DOD the French set to work bypassing the control mechanisms by buying in desert storm fatigues (under which they wore "F**! the Pool" T-shirts), repainting their rented SUV's and printing up ID cards to get them through the Saudi checkpoints. During the first ground engagement of the war - by US Marines in Khafji - they managed to get in, work and then get out again with their material in time to make their deadlines in Paris, Hamburg and New York. This left their American counterparts in the Pool stuck where they were, unable to leave or do anything with their story until it had passed through the hands of a censor and reduced to pathetically demanding that the Marines arrest the French.

Among the photojournalists who covered that war for the French agencies was Laurent van der Stockt (admittedly also Belgian but living in Paris for many years), who almost lost an arm to Serb mortar fire in Vukovar later that year, recovering sufficiently to get back to cover the Bosnian war and later being shot in the knee by an Israeli sniper in Ramallah during the second Intifadah. When the 2003 Iraq war began Laurent was there again, unembedded and free to cover the war without being dependent on the US military.

There was also Patrick Robert, later badly wounded in Liberia, Alain Buu, captured by Iraqi forces who had earlier killed Gad Gross. Noel Quidu was in Baghdad and photographed the aftermath of the Amiriyah bomb shelter disaster.

Remy Ourdan of Le Monde whose coverage includes French government involvement in the Rwandan genocide, four straight years in Bosnia and some of the most vivid reporting to come out of Kosovo. Didier Francois of Liberation, Isabelle Lassaire of Le Figaro who was covering the Chechen war from 94 to 96 - even while she was heavily pregnant. Luc Delahaye, Patrick Chauvelle (badly wounded in Panama), Antoine Gyouri (shot in the throat in Sarajevo), Gilles Caron, (killed in Cambodia), Catherine Leroy (wounded in Vietnam), Gilles Peress (Bloody Sunday and the Iranian revolution), Alexandra Boulat.... I could go on.

French journalists have been among the most intrepid and courageous chroniclers of post WW2 conflict often being the first to get in on a breaking story and consistently remaining engaged well past the point when others have moved on with the news cycle. They have mostly done so without the shield of a friendly military machine and as a consequence have paid a higher price in blood and pain than any other press corps in the first world.

I have been privileged to have worked with many of these men and women and feel honoured to be able to say that I count many of them among my friends.

Steve Connors

 

STEPHANE TAILLAT

5:24 PM ET

September 28, 2009

And the French general is

And the French general is probably Marcel DRUART, commanding general, Regional Command Capital Kabul.

 

STEPHANE TAILLAT

8:40 AM ET

September 29, 2009

So much for me: it is

So much for me: it is Georgelin, CEMA (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). The baldness deceived me :)

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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