by Al Venter
1.
Introduction to Chapter 29, Al J. Venter, The Chopper Boys: Helicopter Warfare in Africa Stackpole Books (US), Greenhill Books (UK) 1994
Chapter fourteen: Israel’s Border Wars
1.
Robin Wright, Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, Andre Deutsch, London, 1986
Chapter seventeen: Bounty Hunt in Rhodesia
1.
Al J. Venter, The Zambezi Salient, Robert Hale, London, 1974
2.
Al J. Venter, War Dog: Fighting Other People’s Wars, Casemate Publishers, US and UK, 2006, pp 217–222
3.
During the Rhodesian War, the colloquial term for guerrilla or insurgent fighter was ‘terr’, an abbreviation of the word terrorist.
4.
Jerky made from the African kudu, which after the Eland was the secondlargest antelope on the continent
5.
Government-controlled ‘Protected Village’ or strongpoint, similar to the Aldeamentos system in Portugal’s wars in Africa.
Chapter nineteen: Zaire: Road to an African War
1.
Al J. Venter, The Terror Fighters, Purnell, Cape Town, 1969
2.
For those not familiar with Afrikaans, the English translation of ‘kak’ is shit.
Chapter twenty-one: Jailed for Espionage
1.
An aside made to the author in Lagos in the 1970s by Angus McDermid who covered East, Central, South and West Africa for the BBC World Service from 1959 to 1972.
Chapter twenty-three: Kill all Infidels – Allahu Aqbar!
1
Al J. Venter, ‘President Lahoud’s Rise to Power’, Middle East Policy, Washington DC: Volume VI, Number 2, October 98
2
Paula A. deSutter, ‘Denial and Jeopardy: Deterring Iranian Use of NBC Weapons; National Defense University, Washington DC, 1997
3
Like al-Qaeda, Hizbollah has long maintained that since Israel is a nuclear power, only the ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons would achieve the desired objective of ‘wiping the Zionists off the map’ as it is so often phrased in both the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) and on Hizbollah’s radio and al Maneer TV networks.
4
The author deals with the Iran-Iraq War in detail in Iran’s Nuclear Option, Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia, 2005, cht 2, pp 45–66
Chapter 24: Tete Convoy in Mozambique
1
Al J. Venter, Africa at War, Devin Adair, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1973
Chapter 26: The Balkan Beast: Landmines in Croatia
1
Armor Express, 1554 East Torchlake Drive, Central Lake, MI 04966; Phone (231) 544-6090
Chapter 28: Helicopter Drug Raids in Zululand
1
The membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors that bind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana.
2
‘Saturday Night Special’ is American law enforcement terminology for an inexpensive and usually badly made firearm, often produced in bulk with ill fitting parts, but still able to kill somebody. While a quality pistol or revolver might cost $600 or more if legally acquired from a registered gun dealer, gangs in the United States are able to buy ‘Saturday Night Specials’ on the street, sometimes for as little as $100.
Acknowledgments
THE FULFILMENT OF A BOOK of this magnitude involves the pulling together of many minds. It started with Madelon, long before I laid the almost-complete manuscript before David Farnsworth, my publisher in Philadelphia. She followed the progress of the book from early on and, while rarely effusive about my scribblings, she declared after her first read that this was the one that would work. She reckoned it was my best book yet and I suspect she might be right. Farnsworth passed the manuscript to Stephen Smith, his chief copy-taster, and he loved it. After putting the project in the hands of my agent, Curtis Russell, in Toronto, Casemate was ready to go.
A lot of things still had to come together before we reached the stage at which we actually had something tangible. These included the illustrations and Bruce Gonneau in Durban played a critical role in scanning hundreds of slides and negatives and sending them abroad. More photos arrived from people like Charlie Cole of Newsweek; Dave McGrady who organised the bounty hunt in Rhodesia; Harry Claflin, with whom I shared a bunkhouse at the Ilopango air base in San Salvador; Louis de Waal and René Coulon, both of whom head Police Air Wings in South Africa; my old friend Richard Davis, with whom I went into the Balkans on that crazy adventure involving landmines; and the indomitable Jaco Ackerman who, with my old friend Brian Gaisford in New York, organised the Serengeti safari.
Without Walter Volker and Manie Troskie taking care of some of the groundwork for me from South Africa, I might have floundered.
One individual above all others stands out. That is Anita Baker, my editor, who took this work in hand and produced what you have before you. With a huge amount of detail, it was never an easy job, but Anita completed the job in half the time that it normally takes to cobble together 500 pages.
My lovely Marilyn put up with me through a good deal of it in Sault Sainte Marie in Canada and, certainly, that needed a lot of patience. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Susan Sizemore of Seaside, Oregon, for her efforts involving research when I most needed them.