Whose War is it Anyway?

The decade-long destruction of Yugoslavia was played out in the full glare of the TV camera lights, with those responsible for this calculat...

The decade-long destruction of Yugoslavia was played out in the full glare of the TV camera lights, with those responsible for this calculated act and its genocidal consequences justifying themselves openly, and getting away with it to boot. Some of these human hyenas have been brought to justice, but others still remain at large, and may never pay for their crimes.

Justice 8212; or the lack of it 8212; is the subject of Michael Ignatieff8217;s third novel. Ignatieff has developed an enviable reputation as one of the most respected commentators on international affairs and the ethics of military intervention, largely on the basis of the reporting that he did from Yugoslavia. He puts his views forward calmly, in an understated style, thus making his arguments all the more effective. All this is underpinned by a moral 8212; not moralistic 8212; view of the world. This animates all his writings, such as his acclaimed biography of Isaiah Berlin, or a recent foray into movies, co-writing the screenplay with D.M. Thomas for the Fiennes family production of Pushkin8217;s Onegin.

A single theme runs through the book. Is revenge better than retribution? Revenge is anonymous. Retribution is slow, it could deliver justice, it may not

Ignatieff draws on his Yugoslav experience to depict Charlie Johnson, an aging journo who8217;s been there, seen that and done that. But time is running out for him. All his experience will not keep him safe from those young hotshots snapping at his heels. He goes for an exclusive 8212; that raiders are active near villages in an area they are not supposed to be in. The raiders are alerted, and the village which Charlie and his team enter is torched. The raiders drench a woman with gasoline and their commander sets her on fire. She runs to where Charlie is hiding, and he tries to douse the flames with his hands, burning them. The woman is airlifted to a field hospital, but is declared DOA.

The experience changes Charlie. He8217;s no longer a detached observer and recorder, he8217;s now involved. He seeks out the killer in Belgrade, intent on exacting revenge. He believes that the woman, whose name he does not know, will in this manner be remembered, and not forgotten, as she is at present. Such a criminal act should not be cloaked in anonymity 8212; that of the killed, and the killer. His mission fails, and Charlie, too, is murdered, by the very man he seeks.

A single theme runs through the book. Is revenge Charlie8217;s aim better than retribution the aim of his friends who try to stop Charlie? Revenge is anonymous, an act outside the law, which condemns the doer in the eyes of the law. Retribution is a slow, agonising process, using the due process of law. In the end, it could deliver justice 8212; or it may not.

Charlie Johnson is a grim, pitiless book. Charlie, his colleagues Jacek and Etta, personify the moral vacuity that operates in the world today, where distance deadens all human feelings, and passivity and indifference are the norms in the face of evil. It is only when that distance is rudely shattered that moral outrage comes into play, seeking revenge and retribution.

Ignatieff unerringly points out that this too leads to a situation of moral ambiguity. When are revenge and retribution correct, and when are they not? For whom, and by whom?