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Before i start, plz dont anyone tell me this guy could be a phony too!!

JIHAD! is a good account of Tom Carew (SAS) fighting with Mujahideen in the mountains of Afghanistan against the occupying Soviet Army.

It's pieced together well, although at times it seems repetive (pray then fight, pray then fight, etc). Then again, im only halfway through the book.

A few reviews have said if you liked Bravo Two Zero, you will like this.

Then again, i haven't read Bravo Two Zero (even though its on my Fathers shelf right in front of me) due to all this babble flying around that its nonsense.

Anyways...i recommend it.

What can I say, sorry mate but... from the Times....


______________________________________________________

Jihad! author 'lied about being in SAS'

THE author Tom Carew, who wrote about his daring Afghanistan missions with the SAS in a top-ten book, has been accused of lying about his exploits — and of never having been in the regiment.
Mr Carew’s book Jihad! The Secret War in Afghanistan, describes how he trained guerrillas and fought Soviet forces in the 1980s. But he was said last night to have been rejected twice by the SAS.

Newsnight claimed that Mr Carew’s real name was Philip Sessarego and that he had served with the Royal Artillery. The programme said that he had failed selection for 22 SAS in 1973 and failed again in his attempt to join the reserve.

He was allowed to stay on in the demonstration troop of non-members (also known as the “goon troop”), which sometimes played the role of the enemy in training. He was discharged in 1975.

The Newsnight reporter George Eykyn also claimed that the author had not taken part in combat operations in Oman, was not involved in establishing the SAS Northern Ireland cell and did not rejoin 22 SAS for a further eight-year period between 1983 and 1991 after working in Afghanistan.

Confronted by Mr Eykyn, Mr Carew insisted that he had not lied and walked away, pushing away a cameraman.

His publisher, the Edinburgh-based Mainstream, has said that his book, which costs £7.99, will sell more than 100,000 copies by Christmas. It is printing up to 15,000 copies a week and has entered the top ten non-fiction paperback list.

The publisher told the BBC that it had taken Mr Carew’s credentials in good faith and said that most of his book centred on his time in Afghanistan. The programme did not dispute that he spent time in that country.

After seeing the television confrontation, one former SAS soldier said: “That is Sessarego. I flattened him in the SAS club in Hereford in a pub fight. In those days it was open to members of the local community.”

So what it's essentially saying is, that his ops in Afghanistan were not false?? Well i can handle that, as that is what the majority of the book is about.

Good read anyway.

I've read this book and found it a good, engaging read.

The ending is a little fanciful, in fact the whole story seems to come to a very aburpt end as though it was deliberately wound up early. I put this down to the author perhaps getting a bit bored of his topic.

His description of the "Rupert" he worked with directly in Pakistan also, on reflection, was stereotypical, but that could just be the author contracting several real characters into a single man to make the narrative easier.

All that aside, the detail about the mujahedeen, their situation in Afghanistan and the nature of the conflict are essentially correct.

*shrug* So, I dunno...

I have also had a peek at this book and its true to say that its not a bad read but just take it as that and not a history book and you should be okay.

As Ploggers has pointed out, the author is a Walt and the whole thing is basically a work of fiction.

I flew through this book and found it absolutely gripping.

I was devestated when I read that it wasnt true.