
Scattering Chaff
Canadian Air Power and Censorship During the Kosovo War
Bob Bergen(Author)
University of Calgary Press
Published on 28. February 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
346 pages
978-1-77385-030-6 (ISBN)
Description
Most Canadians know little, if anything at all, about the role of the Canadian Air Force in the 1999 Kosovo Air War. Yet lives were at put at stake as mission dedication and military skill were pushed to the limit. Some of Canada's most prominent journalists attempted to report on the war, but came away virtually empty handed. Daily briefings given at the National Defence Headquarters provided so little information most Ottawa journalists simply stopped going. The decision of the military to choke Canada's news media was deliberate and based on a tactical and strategic rationale. Scattering Chaff explores the role of the Canadian Air Force in the bombing campaigns of the Kosovo Air War while examining the military's interference with the news media attempting to report to the Canadian public. It explores the ways in which the military has come to manage the media as an element of operational security, mission focus, and of popular opinion. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the war's Canadian participants and a treasure-trove of unpublished documents and photographs, this book is an unprecedented investigation of a little-known conflict and the forces that prevented it from being better known.
Reviews / Votes
"Bob Bergen has written an extraordinary and compelling account of Canada's participation in the Kosovo Air War. The book is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in what it was like to be in the thick of war, the nature of media coverage and the politics of Canadian involvement. Scattering Chaff is well crafted, deeply researched and a superb read." -- David Taras, Professor and Ralph Klein Chair in Media Studies, Mount Royal University "The opening chapter of Scattering Chaff offers a riveting cockpit view of the sorties Canadian CF-18s flew over Serbia: Managing that many warplanes in a confined airspace before, during, and after combat missions is a science and a highly choreographed art of war. Bergen explains how such choreography played out in Kosovo, inviting readers to imagine "battle space management as a ladder superimposed lengthwise over a map of the Adriatic Sea, with its rungs forming six individual boxes or areas of responsibility at precisely designated Global Positioning System (GPS) locations. The long left rail of the ladder down the Adriatic close to the eastern coast of Italy behind those individual AORs was an air transit route code named Backstreet. Inside each AOR in the ladder were air-to-air refuelling tankers like flying gas stations." He continues in this manner, layering operational detail on top of detail: Each formation would leave their marshal point to hit their timing reference point at an exact time that would allow them to fly into the target area and deliver their weapons. What emerges is a wholly fleshed out portrait of Canadian fighter- bombers in action. Such descriptions give Bergens work a drama and verisimilitude appropriate to the subject. But the compelling narrative is only a vehicle for the books two- pronged critique of Canadian military management: first, a public affairs approach marked by inherent secrecy, lack of cohesion, and timidity; and, second, a procurement system that hampered Canadas ability to deliver on its commitments." - Geoff White, Literary Review of CanadaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Calgary
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
19 black & white photos
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
743 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77385-030-6 (9781773850306)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bob Bergen is an adjunct assistant professor at the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. He was a staff journalist at The Albertan from 1976-1980 and the Calgary Herald from 1980-2000. He is the author of Censorship, The Canadian News Media, and Afghanistan.
Content
illustrations
Abbreviations and Nomeclature
Acknowledgments
Introduction-Kosovo: Canada's Unknown Air War
1. A Fearsome Aerial Ballet
2. Planning for War
3. I Cried Every Time It Rained
4. Don't Go to War Without It
5. The Fog of War
6. Prelude to Censorship: Media, Body Bags, and the Gulf War
7. Like an Overnight International Courier
8. A Blanket of Secrecy
9. Friction and Iron Will
10. On Body Bags and the News Media
11. Canada Missed a Good News Story
12. Homecomings
13. Context-Less Facts, Ambiguity, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies
14. Afterward
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations and Nomeclature
Acknowledgments
Introduction-Kosovo: Canada's Unknown Air War
1. A Fearsome Aerial Ballet
2. Planning for War
3. I Cried Every Time It Rained
4. Don't Go to War Without It
5. The Fog of War
6. Prelude to Censorship: Media, Body Bags, and the Gulf War
7. Like an Overnight International Courier
8. A Blanket of Secrecy
9. Friction and Iron Will
10. On Body Bags and the News Media
11. Canada Missed a Good News Story
12. Homecomings
13. Context-Less Facts, Ambiguity, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies
14. Afterward
Notes
Bibliography
Index