USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: | BOOK REVIEW: THE TASTE OF WAR [BY LIZZIE COLLINGHAM][EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS FROM BIAFRA]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ozodi Osuji <>
Date: Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Subject: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: | BOOK REVIEW: THE TASTE OF WAR [BY LIZZIE COLLINGHAM]
To: "elewuoye@gmail.com" <elewuoye@gmail.com>
Cc: "naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com" <naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com>, "nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com" <nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>, "naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com" <naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com>, "talkhard@yahoogroups.com" <talkhard@yahoogroups.com>

 

Last Night I talked to my friend at Los Angeles, California. Dr Michael (I will omit his last name but suffice it to say that he is Igbo, from Ngwa, Aba). He told me of witnessing Biafran folks killing captured Nigerian soldiers, butchering them and actually boiling and eating their bodies.  I myself can testify that I once saw people selling human bodies in a market. In fact, at the height of the war my mother used to prevent my brother, Geoffrey and I from leaving our compound because she said that because we looked very healthy in a world where folks were starving that we could be killed and eaten. That is correct, she was afraid that her children would be eaten.  The relevant point is that Igbos were eating folk's bodies during the war.  This is a fact, not fiction.  There are some of us who would testify to this reality, including my friend in Los Angeles.  Shit happens at war and one is not being moralistic. What needs to be done is for all people to take a deep breathe and stop accusing folks of been different, been war criminals, for if you go down that road you may not be as innocent as you think that you are. For example, the Ojukwu army conscripted fourteen year olds into its army (the old soldiers from the Nigerian army were mostly in the rear, throwing inexperienced boys at experienced Nigerian soldiers to be slaughtered…the boy soldiers were called "Abo ahiha", thrown away refuse). They used boy soldiers to fight their ego wars. That was criminal activity for which they (Ojukwu and his Nnewe clique that ran that war) could be tried at The Hague. I am saying that folks should stop grandstanding on how good they were/are and how bad other persons were/are for all of us, human beings are flawed beings.  Thank you for allowing reason to prevail in your life.

 

Ozodiobi Osuji

From: Valentine Ojo <elewuoye@gmail.com>
To: Nigerian ID <nigerianid@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Tony Eluemunor <teluemunor@yahoo.com>; Tony Egbe <tegbe2003@yahoo.com>; Ezeana Igirigi Achusim <igirigiachusim@aol.com>; Dr. KC Prince Asagwara <KCPrinceAsagwara@shaw.ca>; Joe Attueyi <topcrestt@yahoo.com>; Nkechi <aauwnycpres@aol.com>; Ozodi Osuji <ozodiosuji@yahoo.ca>; Superb Nwandu <superbnwandu@yahoo.com>; Idowu <idowubobo@yahoo.com>; Adeniba Adepoyigi <adenibaadepoyigi@yahoo.com.au>; Amauche Ude <udeamauche@yahoo.com>; Anthony Momah <azkk@yahoo.com>; Emeka Ugwuonye <emekaugwuonye@aol.com>; Iyalaje <ogban_ulisa@yahoo.com>; Ola Kassim <olakassimmd@aol.com>; Olushola Fashedemi <ofashedemi@yahoo.com>; Pius Adesanmi <piusadesanmi@gmx.com>; Prince Dickson <pcdbooks@yahoo.com>; Rufus Orindare <batokkinc@att.net>; Salihu Mustafa <salihumustafa@gmail.com>; Samuel Ayodele <enugbua@aol.com>; Suji Kolawole <sujikolawole@gmail.com>; Sylvester Idehen <idehen559@hotmail.com>; Tajudeen Raji <traji@aol.com>; wale ojo lanre <waleojolanre@yahoo.com>; Yakubu Usman <yakubu.usman@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 7:23:00 AM
Subject: RE: | BOOK REVIEW: THE TASTE OF WAR [BY LIZZIE COLLINGHAM]

Tony Eluemunor:

What then is stopping you from dragging Awolowo before any court you choose, since - according to you and Achebe of course - believe that "many feel Awo has been adequately identified" a 'war criminal'...?

Are the Germans or maybe the US or Russians still not hunting for Hitler...?

When and where will this Awolowo trial be...?

And of course, Biafran soldiers did not commit any crimes during the Nigerian civil wars - they were saints!

Ask the people of the former Bendel!

Tony Eluemunor, delusional Igbo like you and Achebe et al, should continue building and creating your world of hatred for yourselves and for your children: they will be the ones to inherit that world of hatred where none will ever accept them.

It's your choice, Tony!

Dr. Valentine Ojo

Tall Timbers, MD

 

On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Tony Eluemunor <teluemunor@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Dr Valentine Ojo,

 

Thanks to you or whoever fished out and uploaded "The Taste of War" book review.

Yes, atrocities were committed during the two Great European wars. But when the second one ended, there was the Nuremberg trials, where those who were identified as having committed atrocities on the German side, were punished.

 

The new version of the Nuremberg trials is now handled by a new international court. And many Nigerians on these Nigerian discussion fora feel that Awo should have been dragged there to answer for what they feel were his war crimes - crimes against humanity.

 

The bestiality exhibited during the first and second Great European Wars made many to seek a way to banish war crimes, if not wars. And the Nigerian Civil War came well after 1945!

And were war crimes committed by the Biafran side? Please feel free to say so and to condemn such. Evil is evil is evil. And I hope that you also have documented evidence about the inhuman brutes which dreamed them up, ordered that they be carried out, and then later justified them.

 

On the matter under discussion, many feel Awo has been adequately identified!!!! We just have to cleanse this public space we claim to be ours by divine right; it is called Nigeria.

 

So, I wonder the dubious purpose the great review of that book was meant to serve; surely it adds to condemn the use of starvation as an instrument of war - after the terrible human catastrophe of the last Great European War. Or are you saying that Nigeria's only failure was that it did not explode a hundred Atomic Bombs over Biafra? Ah, the Atomic bomb was also an instrument that was l-o-u-d-l-y employed in that Great War.

I have not read the book that was reviewed; but I think that it was written to shock humanity into "saying never again", not to show leaders the terrible example to copy in future wars - the weapon of mass destruction called hunger. In fact that book may actually make any who has not yet taken a position on this matter to pitch his stance against Awo.

In fact, the final sentence of that review states: "This scholarly global survey of the war of nutrition is full of such gruesome but fascinating detail of how hunger makes men behave. We should be warned so that it doesn't happen again".

 

The Americans learnt the right lessons from that war and helped rebuild Europe - both erstwhile friendly or enemy European countries). Imagine if Awo had behaved somewhat differently, or had even checked his tongue, this controversy would never have arisen and a lot of the animosity that has come from the Civil War would not have been there at all.

 

Thanks.

 

Tony Eluemunor.

 

 

From: Valentine Ojo <elewuoye@gmail.com>
To: Nigerian ID <nigerianid@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Nowa Omoigui <nowa_o@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 8:39 PM
Subject: NigerianID | BOOK REVIEW: THE TASTE OF WAR [BY LIZZIE COLLINGHAM]

 

Interesting!

I taught Awolowo invented the word 'starvation' specifically for the Igbo!

I am sorely disappointed!

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 2:02 PM, Nowa Omoigui <nowa_o@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Q: What was the deadliest weapon of World War II? A: Starvation, which killed 20 million peopleBOOK REVIEW: THE TASTE OF WAR BY LIZZIE COLLINGHAM (Allen Lane £30)By Peter LewisUPDATED: 13:58 EST, 27 January 2011 Rationing in wartime Britain: But at least there was food to be hadOne of the things doom watchers like to frighten us with is the coming world food crisis. We had an intense attack of it this week. Sir John Eddington, our Chief Scientific Adviser, warned: 'We have 20 years to deliver something like 40 per cent more food, 30 per cent more fresh water and 50 per cent more energy.'The rising cost of food has been a main cause of the recent riots in Tunisia and Egypt. Empty bellies make people angry as well as hungry. Prophets predict that the next World War will be over ever-scarcer food. Well, here is news for us all. We have already had a World War over food. It was World War II.This amazing book traces the war's course without once mentioning the fighting. For Lizzie Collingham, an immensely learned nutritionist-historian, the war was not about the triumph of democracy over fascism. It was the ­victory of adequate diet over starvation.She makes it impossible to think of the war in the old terms. Just to shock you into paying attention she begins with a statistic: at least 20 million people died during the war of starvation. The number of military deaths was 19.5 million. In other words, the deadliest weapon was starvation.Oh, but surely a lot of those deaths were an accident - an unfortunate side-effect? By no means. They were the result of deliberate policy, both by the Germans and the Japanese.The first photograph in the book is of a Nazi you have never heard of: Herbert Backe, who was Germany's Minister of Food and Agriculture. Herr Backe looks the very picture of German respectability: balding, with thin-rimmed spectacles, a long harmless face, neat collar and tie, seated before his papers looking dutiful and attentive. The kind of reliable bureaucrat who went home in the evenings to his family, and dinner, and probably an occasional night out at the opera.But the work he went home from was the detailed calculation of his favourite idea: the Hunger Plan. Well before Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, Herbert Backe had presented the solution to Germany's chronic food insufficiency (unlike Britain, it had no empire to supply its imports). The plan was to march east into Russia, seize the granary of the Ukraine and BeloRussia, take its produce to feed the army and much of the nation and give the land to German settlers.But what about the Russians who lived there? They were to get nothing - not a slice of bread. They were 'useless eaters'. The people in the cities who relied on the country for its grain and livestock were to starve to death.When denied food, the body starts to consume itself - first its fat and muscle, then the intestines and last, the vital organs. There is intense craving for carbohydrates and salt and uncontrollable diarrhoea before a final torpor. Organ failure is the ultimate cause of death. Those who starved in Leningrad were found to have hearts less than a third of the normal weight.It's worth going into this, because this was the fate that Herr Backe intended for 30 million Russian civilians. He convinced Hitler, who saw it as another powerful reason for doing something he wanted to do anyway. So the attack was launched.The German word for Backe and for many civil servants like him, such as Eichmann, was schreibtischtater - writing desk operator. One can think of other words. I am glad to learn that he eventually hanged himself in his cell awaiting trial.As it turned out his Hunger Plan never fully worked. Quantities of food were seized but the peasants somehow managed to hide, hoard and divert much of their produce to the black market. When the German attack in ­Russia unexpectedly ground to a halt, the army still needed the Russian peasants for all sorts of small services such as repairs, so they needed feeding. And some troops took pity on the starving and slipped them food on the quiet. Meanwhile only a few thousand German farmers relocated to the east. They simply didn't want to go. And then came Stalingrad. It was the encircled Germans who were starved into surrender.Nevertheless, the German people at home did not go hungry until the closing months of the war. They lived on the fat of France, Belgium, Denmark and other conquered territories. German rations were about the same as Britain's.Goering declared that if anyone was to go hungry, it would not be the Germans. It would not, especially, be Hermann Goering. He used to go to Berlin's best restaurant, Horchers, where he would consume a week's rations at a sitting. The frugal Goebbels, who gave his guests herring and boiled potatoes, was furious when he learned of this flouting of the supposed equality of rationing. Mysteriously, a mob wrecked the restaurant soon afterwards.Lunch with the vegetarian Hitler was no picnic - 'a horrible grey barley broth, with crackers and cheese as pudding.'But tea was something else. Hitler adored fancy cakes and chocolate. He could get through two pounds of chocolate in a day. Meanwhile, more than two million Soviet prisoners of war were starved slowly to death by their German captors. In the Warsaw ghetto, 100,000 were starving, hundreds falling dead in the streets daily. But they didn't have nothing to eat. The ground-up rectums of cattle retrieved from slaughter-houses were served as mincemeat. There was no deception. They were called dupniki - dupa being the word for backside.During the siege of Leningrad, in which a million starved to death, there were many cases of cannibalism - presumably babies, since the accused were young women. Other people were eating bread made of cellulose, flour sweepings, the dust from flour sacks and sawdust. Compared with this, Britain's story seems an island of calm and reason. Rationing began in January 1940, with the firm principle that everyone should get the same. The worst period was the winter of 1940-41, when U-boats were sinking supply ships three times faster than they could be built. The meat ration (a shilling's worth - about a pound in weight) was cut even lower. But people were far from starving, if feeling faintly hungry.Farmers doubled the island's arable land. Most people 'dug for victory,' producing vegetables, keeping chickens and in the country, shooting rabbits and game for their friends.A rare treat: Bananas for sale in LondonThe wartime recipes on the radio were hardly tempting - carrot was used to make 'Mock Apricot Tart' with 'mock cream.' I remember chiefly how boring food was: endless dried egg and dried milk; jam so diluted that it ran off the slice of bread; the occasional luxury of baked beans on toast; children looking longingly at plaster bananas decorating a greengrocer's window.But then the Americans arrived. We had never seen anything like it. Massive, well-fed men marching sloppily through our streets with enormous bottoms waggling. Their supply stores sounded like Aladdin's caves and they showed generosity with Hershey chocolate bars and chewing gum. Here was the best-fed army in the world. For them the war was 'the good war' which pulled their farms and industries out of recession and into unprecedented prosperity. They were fighting for 'The American Way of Life'. It seemed mainly to consist of enormous amounts to eat.Japan, by contrast, was fighting for the Japanese way of death. Their attempt to turn South-East Asia into their empire, initially so successful, foundered on lack of food. Their supply ships were sunk. Their far-flung troops were reduced to eating wild grasses. They believed all you needed was 'bushido' - fighting spirit. But it wasn't enough. Some were captured waving their bayonets at the enemy but too weak to stand up. One Japanese soldier pulled down his trousers and pointed to his bottom. 'If I die, Buddy,' he said to his companion, 'go on and eat this.'This scholarly global survey of the war of nutrition is full of such gruesome but fascinating detail of how hunger makes men behave. We should be warned so that it doesn't happen again.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1351152/Q-What-deadliest-weapon-World-War-II-A-Starvation-killed-20-million-people-THE-TASTE-OF-WAR-BY-LIZZIE-COLLINGHAM.html#ixzz296mCUTjP Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook--------------------COMMENTS..During the occupation of Greece, over 300,000 civilians died in Athens alone from starvation.- Athens , Greece, 29/1/2011 13:38---------------- .While I fully understand that the winner writes the history, saying that Germans did not starve to death is simply not true, after Stalingrad things went downhill very fast. My mother tells me that from that point on until 1948 or so when things started to change slowly, there where no cats or squirrels..... or pidgeons....... not many dogs either. Cats where refered to as "Rooftop rabbit". - Juma , at work, here, 29/1/2011 13:16---------------- .Does this number include the starvation program of Josef Stalin?- RB , East Sydney, 29/1/2011 11:05---------------- .The Germans weren't the first to starve the Slavic peoples - Stalin had already done that with the Holodomor of Ukraine in 1932/33. - Caitlin , USA, 28/1/2011 19:42---------------- .RAF Lancaster bombers, most notorious for the Dambusters raid - Wendi Johnson-Fisher, Brighton England, 27/1/2011 20:48 .I think you are looking for famous not notorious or are you not a believer in brave men winning wars- James , Brighton UK, 28/1/2011 15:16---------------- .Less well-known are the famines in Bengal in British controlled India in 1943 & in Japanese controlled Vietnam in 1944-45. Millions died (the final figures are still disputed & may never be known) due to the effects of natural disasters, war & other factors influencing crop yields. - Michael , Suffolk, UK, 28/1/2011 12:57---------------- .Also, there is no mention of the Bengal famine of 1943 when British administrators denied the import of rice to prevent civil unrest and uprising against colonial rule. Actually it happened all over the Empire at different stages.- David , Ireland, 28/1/2011 11:09---------------- .The essay could be complete by including the miseries of the German people expelled from German territories in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic, from the Balkans, Fom Rumania. There were beaten, shoot at, starved to death to the extent that from 16 million expelled, more tan 2 million perished on their way to Germany; Also by including the German people starved to death by the allies, mainly americans, following the guidelines of the Morgenthau Plan, where more than 2 million women, children and elderly people passed away.- Koldo , Pamplona, Spain, 28/1/2011 05:42---------------- .Interesting that there's no mention here of the Dutch starvation. More people died in Holland throughout the war due to starvation than anything else. The problem was so acute that the RAF Lancaster bombers, most notorious for the Dambusters raid actually used to fly low sorties over Holland in the daylight to drop food parcels. The RAF called it Operation Manna and to the this day the Dutch people still remind their children of the packages from Heaven. Never forget. - Wendi Johnson-Fisher , Brighton England, 27/1/2011 20:48.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1351152/Q-What-deadliest-weapon-World-War-II-A-Starvation-killed-20-million-people-THE-TASTE-OF-WAR-BY-LIZZIE-COLLINGHAM.html#ixzz296mVcHsI Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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