Customer Reviews

The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is very helpful in the effort to understand the psychology behind the Dirty War in Argentina. Horacio Verbitsky is a well known authority on this time, since he was pursued by the government during the war and since. The journalistic bravery he has shown certainly merit recognition. His pointed questions to war criminal Francisco Scilingo highlight this telling work. The insights will turn your stomach and blow your mind. The Flight reinforces the notion that the military in any country must have full civilian oversight. The Flight is a not a gentle reminder of this vital concept.

Anyone who wants to understand what went through the minds of the torturers, and comprehend how they could perpetuate their atrocities needs to read this deeply moving book. The grubbiness, the gangsterliness, the banality, the bureaucracy and the horror are conveyed in their true magnitude. Yet there is a detachment about it that adds to its credibility. This book is not about left or right, it condemns no political ideology, it doesn't blame the USA - it just tells us what happened and explores deeply how it could happen. I read this book and could not get its vivid presence out of my head for days. Like some psychological trauma, I needed to talk it over afterward.

Verbitsky transcribes Scilingo's confession regarding the "flights" in which he participated during Argentina's dirty war, between 1976-83. The trivialization of his testimony gives the reader insight on how "desensitized" to their own excesses, the military had become by the time their "deed" was over. Scilingo was the first naval officer to admit to the military's violation of human rights during the war against "subversives". He exempts himself of responsibility by claiming that in the process of carrying out orders from the commanders in charge,the officers themselves, had also become victims of the process. He provides details involving the "loading" of the planes from which live bodies were thrown into the South Atlantic Ocean. A worthwhile tool in making an assessment on the entire story...

Having read several books on this subject matter, I expected THE FLIGHT to provide an in-depth insider's point of view of the events in question. I really didn't learn anything new here. And I agree with the other reviewer who said that this translation is terrible. There are several awkward translations of key terms, such as "final stop" for "punto final", the law prohibiting further legal action taken against the military leaders after a certain date. Try Feitlowitz's "A Lexicon of Terror" instead.

This is an essential read for anyone interested in the contemporary Argentine history. The writer is an acknowledged expert on the subject. Why then have I awarded it one star? Because the translation is appallingly bad, at times bordering on the incomprehensible. One gets the impression that it was done one word at a time, dictionary in hand. If you are not already familiar with the events and personalities of the period you'll have difficulty figuring out what's going on. Conclusion: Only for those who are never, ever going to learn to read Spanish

An ex-officer in the Argentinean military confesses how political prisoners were murdered. I can't write "highly recommended" about this book, because it seems to trivialise those horrible events to some marchendising event. Just read it, you may not be able to sleep for few nights, but you'll get a true look into the mirror of evil regimes, supported by the United States only because they were "anti-communist".

I thought this book had a lot of potential, but turned out to be a long-winded lament of Scilingo. It lacked a comprehensive historical overview of Argentinian politics, which would have placed the Dirty War in its proper context. Not useful for first time readers to modern Argentinian politics. Its not even a story of Scilingo himself. I found it a bit clumsy