# "Shake hands With the Devil"



## Slim

I am wondering if there is anyone in the forum who can either provide an opinion on , or who can critique General Romeo Dalaire‘s book "Shake hands With The Devil"?
I have been thinking about buying the book for some time now and would like some feedback on what it‘s like.
Thanks all
Slim


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Hi Slim,

It‘s the next book on my reading list... Give me some time and I‘ll post a full blown review here. (I haven‘t started it yet, so it may be some weeks before I can give an opinion on it...)

Looking forward to it though...


----------



## westernarmymember

I am half way through reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone.


----------



## GGHG_Cadet

I finished the book a few weeks ago and it was a very good read and would recommend it to everyone. I think it‘s worth buying.


----------



## Slim

Thanks gents
Slim


----------



## pvandoremalen

Its worth reading. The man was faced with one of the worst situations a commanding officer can be in as he watched as the situation deteriated around him unable to do anything as his orders forbid him to. I remember the point in the book where he described what happened to the Belgian paras as they were slaughtered by the Rwandan militia. Its a good book. I met him at a medical convention once, hope the guy finds some peace some day. Good reason not to become a rupert, things are much easier from the NCM‘s perspective.


----------



## EX-STRAT

Light Infantry Soldier you are the heart and soul of the combat arms. Be proud and stand tall. I was with the assault troop recce for the Strats so can somewhat relate. Soldier on and do our country proud, your type is few and far between...


----------



## hoganshero

It was a very good read. It is written in the form of a narrative. It is not an after action report... he does not discuss the minutea of military life. Instead it is a very personal journey through a very troubled time in a troubled country‘s history. If you are looking for maps and casualty figures and info on how the civil war played out on a tactical level it isn‘t here. If you are looking for a book about one man‘s journey through history and struggle against indeifference then it is a must read.


----------



## jimbunting

Gentelmen:

The general was in the witness chair at the Judicial proceedings, and was embarrassed when he made comments about being "threatened" by a Major, with a pistol. Turns out that his book does not even mention this "event". Seems he had to re-read his own book, to find out that the "fact" was not there. Overall his testimony was a series of un-related claims, that the defence was, for the most part, able to refute.

I‘ve seen this ex-officer on TV a number of times, and my impression was that he was shooting for a UN job, or at least a claim for PTSS.

Jim Bunting.


----------



## Mike Bobbitt

Jim, you‘ll probably want to back up these claims with something more concrete. Granted, you‘re expressing an opinion, but one that‘s likely to draw quite a bit of scrutiny given the circumstances.

I for one can‘t bring Dallaire‘s PTSD claim into question. If 1/10th of what is in his book is true (and I have no evidence that any of it is untrue) then who are we to judge from our positions of comfort and safety?

Please, if you have fact to back any of this up, share it with us.

Cheers


----------



## Lexi

I saw the book at Chapters, wanted to pick it up but the mother shook her head.
"Find something in the ten dollar range, dear." says she.


----------



## hoganshero

I have no idea why everyone says that Bagorosa threatening the general is not in his book it is on page:456 2nd paragraph of my copy

Quote:
"Around this time I had a final, memorable encounter with Theoneste Bagosora. I had gone to the Diplomates to see Bizimungu, and was waiting for him at the front desk, when Bagosora opened his office door and spotted me there. From almost 10 metres away, he started to shout, accusing me at the top of his lungs of being an RPF sympathizer. I was undermining the very important transfers from the Milles Collines and Meridien, he yelled, and he continued to berate me and UNAMIR for having failed the Arusha peace process as he passed me and started to climb the long stairway that swept in a curve up to the second floor of the lobby. When I mildly responded that it was his side that had been failing to keep truces for the transfers, he ratcheted up to an even more intense level of rage, and paused to lean over the metal railing in order to look me in the eye. With menace in every line of his face he promised that if he ever saw me again he would kill me."
Seems pretty clear cut to me....
Mr Bunting:
I assume this is the event in question regarding the death threat. 
Your "impression" that Dallaire was shooting for a job at the UN seems a tad uninformed. Dallaire has no use for the UN 
page 6:quote" I know intimately the cost in human lives of the inflexible UN Security Council mandate, the penny pinching financial management of the mission, the UN red tape, the political manipulations...."
Describing the reason for his book "It is not a simplistic indictment of the many failures of the UN as a force for peace in the world."

as you can see he is not too keen on the UN. 

As to addressing your claim that he did it simply to pass off a claim of post traumatic stress disorder.... 2 suicide attempts and a 3 day stint living under a bridge seem a bit much for an extra 5% of your wage in your pension.

I think what is more likely Jim is that this man has been through something you don‘t understand and it broke him in a way you can‘t sympathize with so you are going to pass it off as some kind of weakness or an act. Not to get too personal but I think the 21st century is passing you by.


----------



## clasper

Jurors unanimous in picking retired lieutenant-general‘s book 

OTTAWA - Romeo Dallaire‘s book, detailing his experiences as the Canadian commander of United Nations forces in Rwanda in 1994, has won the 2004 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing.

The jury -- Ottawa councillor Clive Doucet, broadcaster Peter Mansbridge and writer Margaret MacMillan - unanimously selected the retired lieutenant-general‘s Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda for the $15,000 prize, established in honour of the late member of Parliament from Windsor, Ont.

"It puts a heart-rendering face on the costs of the world turning away from its responsibility to protect human rights in Rwanda," the jury said.

The other finalists were The Story of Jane Doe: A Book About Rape by Jane Doe and The Road to ****: How the Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada by Julian Sher and William Marsden.

The prize, awarded by the Writers‘ Trust of Canada, goes to "a non-fiction book that exhibits outstanding literary merit and enlarges people‘s understanding of contemporary Canadian political and social issues."


 http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/quickhits20040401 


--------------------

Well earned.  BZ


----------



## sm0ke

There was a pretty imformative special last night on Detroit Publc Tv (Im assuming it was probably Nova or something like it) about Rwanda, Dallaire was featured as one of the prime interviewees for the show.   I dont know how often they rerun that sorta stuff, I was going to burn it but only caught the last half hour or so.  Did any one else  happen to catch it?


----------



## Spr.Earl

> Originally posted by sm0ke:
> [qb] There was a pretty imformative special last night on Detroit Publc Tv (Im assuming it was probably Nova or something like it) about Rwanda, Dallaire was featured as one of the prime interviewees for the show.   I dont know how often they rerun that sorta stuff, I was going to burn it but only caught the last half hour or so.  Did any one else  happen to catch it? [/qb]


I saw it and yes it was on PBS,it was two hours long.
It was very incrimenating to the all the members of the U.N. and especialy the U.S. for not acting when Delaire asked for help.


----------



## Sh0rtbUs

I loved it. one of my top favorite books.


----------



## sm0ke

Thanks Earl, I‘ll see if I can find it on the net somewhere, if I can i‘ll make it available by request through FTP

I‘ll continue re-reading the book until then


----------



## stukirkpatrick

I just got this book from chapters today, and from what I can tell from reading the first few pages, it will be well worth the money.


----------



## Slim

I finally broke down and bought the book at the airport while on the way out west. Although I paid the exhorbitant price of waytoomuch$$$ for it I was able to read for 4 hours uninterupted (unheard of time in my world!). I am about half way through now and am enjoying it quite a bit.


----------



## Bert

As a slight tangent to the thread, are there any other stories of Canadian Forces members having to make tough decisions while on deployment somewhere?

I don‘t have the link or the complete facts or can prove whether its true, but I
was told a graphic story of a small platoon of
Candian soldiers in Bosnia in the early days
of the conflict.  The leading NCO made a decision
that led him off his ROE and against command authority to protect several families of refugees from a group of opposing soldiers/militia. 

I don‘t have all the facts but I think the Canadian government should provide "public" 
praise for those soldiers in difficult circumstance and times who tried to do the right
thing.  Even if its just the PM privately giving the a slap on the back with a "way to go!".


----------



## Sh0rtbUs

Peacekeeper by L.W. MacKenzie is really good too. More from a Political standpoint as a leader of a U.N. mission, but nonetheless, a great book.


----------



## Slim

Try "The Sharp End" by James R Davis. a good story and rather well written.


----------



## stukirkpatrick

Well I finished LGen Dallaire‘s book a week ago, and it just makes me sick how the world ignored Rwanda‘s plight, until after the genocide -

Its interesting to note that the current president of Rwanda is Paul Kagame, the former head of the RPF during the war, and Dallaire actually voiced speculation in his book about if he had actually been involved in some way, considering how he ended up...


----------



## Slim

> Originally posted by Kirkpatrick:
> [qb]  the current president of Rwanda is Paul Kagame, the former head of the RPF during the war, and Dallaire actually voiced speculation in his book about if he had actually been involved in some way, considering how he ended up... [/qb]


Well...You never can tell about what goes on behind the scenes. From what I have so far read it sounds like the RPF were much better organized, trained and ready to "forge ahead and break ground" than the RGF or any other of the organizations present on the ground.

As far as the U.N. goes. It sounds to me like it was a case of simply no one being willing to take responsability for sorting the country out...and so hunderds of thousands were murdered. Its happened before and very likely will happen again.

Just goes to show that, in the end, we don‘t really care unless there‘s money or oil involved.

Cheers


----------



## vangemeren

Is LGen Dallaire (hope that's the right name title) doing a book tour? I saw an advertisement for a speech he is going to do at Nipissing University. If so has anyone gone to see him?


----------



## Armymedic

Wife got this book for me as a Christmas present. Looks like I need to get into soon.

Now 10 yrs after the fact we (the public, not mbrs of the CF) will see what the events were 10 yrs ago in Rwanda. I also look forward to the movie "Hotel Rwanda".

We (the public again) should feel shame.


----------



## Fruss

Does anyone knows the title of the movie LGen Dallaire made for the International film festival? He returned to Rwanda and a camera crew followed him I believe...   I would like to see that...

BTW, if someone has ANY information about when and where LGen Dallaire will be a speaker, please post it..

Frank

Edit: I found the movie title: "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire"   Any one knows when it will be available to rent?
2nd Edit: Nevermind, I found it again...  The movie will be in theater Feb 18th and available on DVD March 1st 2005.

More information on Microfilms's web page: http://www.microfilmsinc.com/


----------



## marlene

Excellent book and the CBC documentary on this past Tuesday? night with regard to his (Dallaires) return to Rwanda - amazing. Hope people got a chance to watch it.

merlane


----------



## -rb

"Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire" - The movie will be in theater Feb 18th  

For those on here from Calgary... i know there are a few - You can catch it at The Uptown theatre right now. Hope to get down there this weekend to take it in.

I'm assuming it's already out playing elsewhere too, i'd check out the local indy theatres as unfortunately i doubt it'll make the big screens.

cheers.


----------



## P Kaye

There's also a relatively new book called "The Ghosts of Medak Pocket", which might be good.   There's a seperate discussion thread about this book.


----------



## karl28

I agree the TV programing was very eye opening .  Does any one know how many troops we had there before every thing hit the fan ?


----------



## stukirkpatrick

In Rwanda?  IIRC.....    2 ......with UNAMIR - General Dallaire and his aide.  And a CF herc was involved somewhere - but more Canadians werent there until later.


----------



## karl28

Thanks for the info Kirkpatrick I had a cousin that was a line man that went there but I was not sure if it was part of a tour or training ? I was allot younger than so cant remember .


----------



## stukirkpatrick

Well IIRC there was a comms unit (as well as others) involved in 1994, after the genocide had come into effect.


----------



## Military mind

very good book... i recommend it strongly... althought I got lost from time to time with all the Africans names; I always had to refer at the end of the book to know who is who ???


----------



## vercingetorix

O.K I literally just finished reading this book about 5 minutes ago and decided that I had to write something about this book in this forum.  
        To start off with, I'm forcing at least 3 of my friends to read this book.  It is truly amazing the amount of patience that Lt.Gen Romeo Dallaire had to edure on this most disaterous U.N. tour.  He (and his fellow officers & his MILOBS) truly had the patience to match and beat that of Job ten fold.  I kept on imagining what I would've done if put in the same position as he; and to be true to myself, I probably would've been kiiled while weilding my own weapon, trying to shoot the Genocidaires.
        For anyone thinking about joining the army or reserves and who would like to join onto Canadian/U.N. missions this book is a must and will help you to understand the strains that the first world belligerent countries (as I've come to think of them)  put on the beaurocratic mess that is now the U.N.

        Romeo Dallaire and co author (Mjr. Brent Breadsley) acurately described their experiences in the Rwandian Genocide so much so that you can actually feal yourself getting stressed out reading it.  To even try to describe my own emotion whilst reading this book makes me want to go down to the pub and grab a beer.  So all I can say is that if you are going to read one book about army and peace keeping life this year READ THIS BOOK!!!.  
        If you want to dissillussion yourself with military farces and fairyland filth, go back to reading Tom Clancy's visual trash (going in my recycling bin as I speak)  I truly believe that if you are going to join the army, or if you already are in it, you have to read the real accounts, you have to force yourself to digest the real tales of people who have been in these REAL LIFE scenario's.  I've read every single Tom Clancy novel (with the exception of "Executive Orders") and can safely say that I will never read another page of his dribble again.   
        For those of us living in the first world, books like this are a must for us to read.  We must never forget the decisions that we make, simply by our public opinion and the effects that this has on the nature of these vital U.N. third-world peace keeping missions. 
        
        I myself am now attempting at this moment to join the Reserves, origionally for life experience and to help me through school.  So when I told my dad about my plans few months back, he said I should read "Shake Hands With the Devil".  He thought that after reading this book and reading about the effects this had on the soldiers that had to sit by and endure those attrocities, that this would disuade my ambition to join the Seaforth Highlanders.  
        So now it's been ten minutes since I've read this book, and now I'm even more determined to join the reserves.  Not only am I now determined to join up, but am now convinced that I'd like to sign up for a U.N. peace keeping mission or two and as the bard put it "suffer the slings and arrows of outragous fortune" and at least try to do my small part in trying to fix this global mess that we all contribute every time we turn our back on a potential Rwanda.

  
 -Vercingetorix


----------



## TheCheez

Agreed it's a great book. Gen Dallaire is a great author. I enjoyed his style much more than Carol Off's Ghosts of the Medak (still reading). Shake hands gave me nightmares and was one of those books I couldn't leave at home I wanted to read it at every oportunity. For a non-fiction that's quite the feat.

To the people I recommend it to the only thing I mention is to make a list of people that are introduced and some basic stats also the acronyms. By 2/3 through I no longer could remember if such and such was on this side or that etc and in typical military fashion theres a lot of acronyms which are only written in full once.


----------



## loyalist

Currently reading the book for the second time (as to keep up with the names and specifics). It's truly a wonder how much the book covers: politics, ethnic hatred, media manipulation, the UN (and it's bungling of the situation), and it also provides a strategic and tactical analysis of the Rwandan disaster.
   Personally, heavy reading or not, I think it should a be a mandatory grade 11 book (or grade 12 outside of Quebec). Senator Dallaire'swriting style is very inviting while at the same time haunting to the bone. 
   After reading this book, you feel like beating any critics of Dallaire's handling of the situation with a cast-iron pole...it is an amazing story of dedication to humanity despite being low on international co-operation, vehicles, troops, ammunition, fuel and other shortfalls. It also shows how a soldier is valuable for what he (or she, however, there were no female soldiers mentionned directly by Senator Dallaire) has inside them not neccesarily how much advanced equipment or wealth their nation has. After all, the Tunisians and the Ghanians, in my opinion, are the best portrayed contingents throughout the book. For the Belgians and the Bangladeshis, there seems to be a love-hate relationship between the Force Commander and the contingents. I found it quite shocking that a modern country such as Belgium could still have formally racist policies (ie, the Belgians not being allowed to sleep in tents in font of Africans).
  It also gives a new point of view on rebel armies, which seem to be generally portyed in a negative light. The RPF are shown as a rebel army, but a brilliantly-led and well diciplined army at that, a rebel army that genuinely tried stop the genocide. Perhaps it was for this reason that rebels are more positively portrayed by the media about the Darfur crisis...


Definately a good read, I reccomend that anyone who hasn't read it reads it, and anyone who has read it long enough ago for it to not get repetitive should read it again.


----------



## Jonny Boy

i think Lt/gen Dallaire is going to the huntsville fair in early July. i would love to go there and meet him. unfortunately i will be 3 provinces and 1 territory away.


----------



## casing

TheCheez said:
			
		

> Gen Dallaire is a great author.



He used a ghostwriter, Sian Cansfield, who took her own life shortly before the book was finished.  It is generally assumed that the subject matter of the book and being so deeply involved with writing it for about a year was the primary influence.  If you care to know more just google it.


----------

