Cocaine Highway

Posted by on Nov 21, 2014 in Articles | No Comments
Cocaine Highway

CHAPTER 1: EVERYTHING CONNECTS IT BEGINS WITH A BOAT. Small, white, with two large outboards – a speedboat. The pilot has feathered his throttle and is crawling upriver. The scenery suggests an estuary. The water is a muddy aquamarine. Aside from the grassy bank where the soldiers have parked their pick-ups, the river has no […]

Clooney’s War

Posted by on Nov 7, 2014 in Articles | No Comments
Clooney’s War

CHAPTER 1: A bar on the Nile Mid-morning and the staff were still wiping down the bar and clearing away the empties when George Clooney ambled over to my table. George had a couple of hours before he headed north to the fighting and we’d agreed to meet by the Nile, at the aid worker hotel […]

The Hunt for Boko Haram

Posted by on Nov 7, 2014 in Articles | No Comments
The Hunt for Boko Haram

CHAPTER I   It’s 50 days since the Islamist militants of Boko Haram kidnapped an entire girls’ school in northeastern Nigeria and the general wants me to see what he’s up against. He invites me to his office in the capital, Abuja, and opens his laptop.   The general clicks on one folder entitled “Abubakar […]