Eeben Barlow's comment on the revised edition of Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds

Eeben Barlow's comment on the revised edition of Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds. ISBN 9781928359050 / ISBN 978-1-928359-05-0

Having been senior leader within the former South African Military Intelligence, Eeben Barlow certainly knows the tools and mechanisms of desinformation. For the readers of his memoirs, Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds, which has been pulblished in a revised second edition in the end of 2018, it is obvious that the author, since being (contracted) part of systems struggeling for power, has fallen victim to desinformation himself. And he takes it personally, like you or me would.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Winston Churchill

When I (Eeben Barlow) initially decided to write the story of Executive Outcomes (EO), many ridiculed me and viewed my endeavour as an extremely petty attempt to extract revenge for duplicitous and malicious actions. It wasn't, but I will leave that for the reader to judge. A book was the only platform I had through which to expose and rectify the malicious campaign against the company and myself. It was also my way of honouring and paying tribute to the men who served Executive Outcomes with distinction and made it what it was: a company that kept its word despite insurmountable odds; but I could not tell the story of these fine men without telling a part of my story. Executive Outcomes honoured every contract it was awarded. It never failed a government or a commercial client and several of its employees paid the ultimate price for that. Many of them were men I knew and had served with in the South African Defence Force (SADF). Some were very good friends and I mourn their deaths every day. Shortly after it became known that I was writing the EO story, my home was burgled1 and the almost completed manuscript disappeared along with my computer. More determined than ever to get the story of EO into the public domain, I was forced to start all over again. The burglars were never apprehended. Numerous domestic and international publishing houses rejected the completed manuscript outright. They never gave their reasons, but I suspected it was because EO's true story didn't match the propagated narrative on the company. Only one publisher was willing to accept and print the manuscript—but only after extensive editing. When Galago finally published the book in September 2007, it was met with stony silence by the media, and some book stores—ignoring the fact that the majority of the company's employees had been black Africans—refused to carry it on their shelves, claiming that they would not sell a book about a 'bunch of racist mercenaries'. They also chose to ignore the fact that all of the company's contracts were with legitimate governments or multinational companies. This misguided response proved to me that the disinformation campaign against us had made a much larger impact on the public's perception—and their false sense of reality—than I could ever have imagined. Several of the men who served EO with honour wrote to me after the book had been published and thanked me for my efforts to record a part of their life history. Sadly, a few also claimed that I had lied about my SADF deployments, and even stated that I had never served in 32 Battalion's Reconnaissance Wing, let alone as its second-in-command. Given that Executive Outcomes had refused to employ or extend contracts for some of them, and dismissed others for having transgressed the company's Code of Conduct, their utterances did not surprise me too much. Almost two decades after its closure, there are still those in academia and the media who falsely claim that EO still exists. Old lies about the company are frequently rehashed or exchanged as 'new facts' are generated. Ironically, these 'facts' are seldom, if ever, verified or exposed for what they are. The world has changed since the closure of Executive Outcomes in 1998, and so has my life. At the time of revision, I am the chairman of STTEP International Ltd, a company that, like EO, firmly believes that only Africans, regardless of race, can truly solve Africa's numerous problems. I still act as an advisor to some African governments and STTEP has carved its own very successful path across Africa, succeeding where many others have tried and failed. Like EO, it too has had to contend with a duplicitous media, and foreign interests that aim to stop it from assisting and supporting African governments. Following the publication of my book Composite Warfare: The conduct of successful ground force operations in Africa in 2016, I was given the opportunity by 30 Degrees South to revise the original Executive Outcomes manuscript and have it republished. I am extremely grateful for this chance as it allowed me to rectify several errors and add some missing text. I am also extremely grateful to my editor, Marisa Robson, who spent many hours making sense of my ramblings. The story of Executive Outcomes has not changed; it has been revised and missing parts have been added. It remains a story written in the blood of its employees and the enemy alike; the story of a small group of men who triumphed against all odds. I hope this book will give the men who loyally served Executive Outcomes the credit they deserve. To them goes all praise and honour, and I salute them.

Eeben Barlow, Pretoria, 2017

Dies ist eine Pressemeldung des Namibiana Buchdepot: Eeben Barlow's comment on the revised edition of Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds.