Embassy Nairobi Bombings Disected!

Terrorism, Betrayal and Resilience - My Story of the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings by Prudence Bushnell, Potomac Books, 2018.

This is an impressive book. It is well written, quite readable and tells a fascinating story.   No one but the ambassador on the scene could have written this book. It is comprehensive in its depiction of events during, after and leading up to the embassy Nairobi bombing. It provides a unique perspective on what happened and how people reacted and coped.  But that is not all, the author also dissects the Department of State’s response to the security situation and the bombing with a critical eye.  Before and after the bombing there are many lessons that ought to have been learned; however, many weren’t. Additionally, the book outlines overall global planning by al-Qaeda, reporting what the USG knew and when and all the snafus involved in interagency turf issues.  Ambassador Bushnell paints a compelling case of negligence as the worst case or ignorance or ineptitude as the best regarding Washington’s response to security concerns and the threat of the al-Qaeda network. Topping all this off is Ambassador Bushnell’s observations on leadership and her practice of leadership during her entire career.  Finally, notable are discussions of hurdles that she as a woman had to overcome in asserting herself as an effective leader. 

 The book appeals to popular audiences that are curious about terrorism, and want a real life diplomatic thriller.  Indeed this is one. It is a compelling recitation of what happened and how embassy personnel and the government of Kenya responded to the crisis.   Even though a reader probably knows the overall outcome, the story of how the bombing and the aftermath is suspenseful and gripping.  It certainly will be read by the diplomatic community and by scholars, researchers and others who track terrorism and how it manifests itself.

 The book contributes to a fresh and certainly for most a more comprehensive understanding of what transpired in Nairobi. That in itself is meritorious, but the critical dissection of how the US intelligence community was divided on the al-Qaeda threat provides a new perspective that contrasts with the self-satisfied performance conveyed by Washington oriented writers. 

This is a very good book that needs to be read by anyone interested in Kenya, terrorism and the global diplomatic response to the crises of our times.

Horrors from the Lord's Resistance Army

Thirty Girls by Susan Minot, Alfred Knopf, New York, 2014

This is kind of an odd book. It is a fictional treatment of the true story of the abduction and abuse of thirty girls from St. Mary’s school in northern Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army. That part of the book is vivid and compelling in describing what happened to the girls; how they were beaten, raped and forced to comply with the weird practices of Joseph Kony’s cult.  Through reminisces of girls who escaped, the book also provides insight into how they handled the trauma psychologically.  Some cooped, others did not.  Similarly with their families, some viewed the girls as irreparably damaged. Others welcomed them home. But life could never be the same.

The other part of the book tracks the vague quest of a thirty something American journalist Jane who pitches up in East Africa with the hazy idea of writing about the girls. She falls in with a company of Kenya cowboys and world vagabonds and their sybarite lifestyle.  Jane hasn’t much of a back-story, but she lives for the moment even as she wonders about her place in life. Later she is struck by the realization of the unpredictability of violence. 

The plot of the story unfolds as the jaundiced westerners travel to Uganda to detail the girls’ stories. So finally the two parts of the book begin to jive.  Author Minot throws an unexpected twist into the plot at the last minute, but one which serves to underscore the theme of random violence. 
 

Readers cannot help but feel sympathy for the abducted girls and the horrors they endured.  At the same time the western sybarites garner only disgust. Yet folks on both sides reveal universal truths - relationships matter and you have to deal with what confronts you.  

For readers interested in Uganda and the impact of the Lord’s Resistance Army on the Acholi people, this is a useful book.