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Obras por Philip Kearney

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Philip Kearny was a San Francisco prosecutor who, seeking greater challenges, applied for and got a job with the United Nations mission prosecuting war crimes in post-war Kosovo in 2001. Kearny details well his culture shock upon arriving in Kosovo and his struggles to learn the local legal code. The book is very interesting and well written in a lucid, straightforward manner highlighted with just the right sort of descriptive details to let the reader really see the scenes and situations being described. Happily, these details are used sparingly so as not to clutter up the narrative.

The age-old emnity between the Kosovans and Serbs is well described as a background for the three cases that Kearny highlights, cleverly chosen to highlight the scope of the U.N.'s task in Kosovo. There is a case involving war crimes commited by the Serb army against Kosovans in the days before NATO bombing drove that army out of Kosovo. There is a case involving Kosovan military thugs detaining, torturing and killing any of their own people who they officially deem as suspected collaborators with the Serbs (but whom Kearny shows are just as often merely people whom the army officers have some pre-war grudge against). And there is a case involving a horrid thug of a man who bullies and beats on anyone he feels like who happens to cross his path, but who will never by prosecuted by local courts because of who he is. It is all told quite well enough to be very compelling reading.

Funny thing for me about this book is that Phil Kearny lived in my neighborhood in San Francisco before my wife and I moved away (he still lives there, as far as I know). In fact, he lived right around the corner from me and I knew him a bit. So there was pleasant, likeable Phil Kearny in my 'hood. And then he was gone for awhile with this interesting sounding job in Kosovo, while my life as a freelance jazz writer/copywriter continued. And then one day there was Phil back in town again. "Hi, Phil! Welcome back!" says I. "Thanks," says he. And that was the extent of things. But, of course, I had absolutely no clear idea of everything he had seen and done and felt in the intervening nine months. I didn't feel like I knew him well enough to become one of the dozens or hundreds of people asking for the story and getting whatever prefabbed response he was giving casual acquaintances. So now I know.

At any rate, I highly recommend this book.
… (mais)
½
1 vote
Assinalado
rocketjk | 2 outras críticas | May 28, 2012 |
Though I haven't been to Kosovo, I did spend two years living in Bosnia which struggled with many of the same challenges in the aftermath of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Kearney does a good job of framing an incredibly complicated set of issues in order to make them palatable to readers unfamiliar with the complexities of war crimes tribunals. His picture of working for the UN as an American rings true and provides an excellent introduction into that lifestyle. Though I would have preferred more focus on the issues and less on his perception of them, the book was certainly a good strong read.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
ForeignCircus | 2 outras críticas | Jun 22, 2010 |
Philip Kearney was an assistant District Attorney in San Francisco with 17 years experience when he received a phone call from a friend suggesting that Philip join him in Kosovo as their was an opening in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for a prosecutor. Though he was prosecuting homicides in his district and had a good home life with wife, he convinced himself that the change of a six month stint as an international prosecutor was what he wanted. As his friend suggested he applied for the position with the UNMIK having absolutely no knowledge of international law let alone Yugoslavian law and got the job.

This six month stint that turned into nine months would be a life changing experience for him and changed his whole life. This memoir of Mr. Kearney's time as an international prosecutor for UNMIK has been well edited and reads like a novel. It is a fast and captivating read of the inner workings of what a international prosecutor has to deal with while prosecuting war crimes in the country where they took place. He also was the lead prosecutor for UNMIK on the first case of international sex trafficking ring in the region.

We are given a front row seat as we walk in his shoes and get a real feel for the excitement, discomfort, danger and hard work that these UN workers face while in war torn regions. The work, dedication and risk assumed is amazing and you have to respect Mr. Kearney for staying with the job. But as he becomes addicted to the adrenaline we will see he cannot return to his life as a city assistant District Attorney. Having lived in a war torn third world country myself I can tell you his experiences are not even those of the people in the most danger of performing their duties. But this is a first person account that is worth reading.

The need of people for justice is great. And when war crimes to the degree of what we learn of happened in this conflict even more so. In the few cases that Mr. Kearney worked on we get a very close view of what life was like for everyone in the war torn region and the fear that continued even with the presence of the UN and NATO supposedly keeping Kosovo as a protectorate. Of course as most expect regardless of the very hard work and risk of these international workers not much gets done or moves very slowly and years of work can get overturned with a bureaucratic strike of a pen. After reading this book my respect for the ground forces so to speak of the United Nations who take such risk has risen immeasurably.

But the lack of any real action by the upper levels of the UN and NATO are also unveiled. The British general of the NATO Forces in Kosovo refused to follow direct orders to expel the unlawful occupation of the Kosovo airport by the Russians; and they never did anything but ignore them. And the UN bureaucracy and lack of international authority becomes readily apparent when they are not even able to help procure a necessary witness from the adjoining country in a War Crimes Trial and Mr. Kearney has the foresight to turn to the intelligence agencies of the areas to aid in meeting and getting his witness to trial.

Like the Middle East the Balkans have century old hatreds that played a role in each and every case that was tried. Even with the presence of international police force and NATO it was obvious the fear that everyone lived under everyday not knowing if it would be their last was ever present. Mr. Kearney does an excellent job of allowing us a small glimpse of this life as an international with a security detail. We can easily imagine what it is like for a local who does not have this protection who wants to see justice done. And what we see as his team breaks up and go to their new positions. The world is full of countries still waiting for horrendous war crimes to be prosecuted and justice brought to bear.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
hermit | 2 outras críticas | May 30, 2010 |

Prémios

Estatísticas

Obras
1
Membros
11
Popularidade
#857,862
Avaliação
4.1
Críticas
3
ISBN
3