From Dublin to Beirut, Guantanamo Bay to Iraq - and all the way back - Tom Clonan takes the reader on a very personal journey through the Global War on Terror. The book deals with a variety of themes including death, mayhem and murder, loss of loved ones, fear of flying and the hazards of having four children and a dog!

 

Clonan’s book begins with his career as a Captain in the Irish Army in war-torn Lebanon and Bosnia. It then chronicles his experiences as a military whistleblower, academic and journalist and finally Irish Times Security Analyst. These experiences give the reader a unique insight into the Global War on Terror. They also give the reader an insight into the nature of faith, trust and betrayal of ideals.

 

It is a frank and honest account of conflict from the point of view of someone with first-hand experiences of war abroad and heartbreaking experiences of loss at home. Clonan’s book is by turns dark, hilarious and moving. His accounts of a world engaged in asymmetrical warfare - at a cost of $4 trillion dollars and over a million lives to date - is disturbing. His account of the war, juxtaposed with intimate descriptions of his own family circumstances - a parent helping his young son to fight a serious neuromuscular disease - is an eloquent commentary on the futility of war and the huge potential for good that exists in the world.