James Fergusson

Since the mid-1950s, successive Canadian governments have grappled with the issue of Canada's role in US ballistic missile defence programs. Until Paul Martin's government finally said no, policy-makers responded to US initiatives with fear and uncertainty as they endlessly debated the implications – at home and abroad – of participation. However, whether this is the end of the story remains to be seen.Drawing on previously classified government documents and interviews with senior officials, James Fergusson examines Canada's policy deliberations during five major US initiatives. He reveals that a combination of factors such as weak leadership and a tendency to place uncertain and ill-defined notions of international peace and security before national defence resulted in indecision on what role Canada would play in ballistic missile defence. In effect, policy-makers have failed to transform debates about the issue into an opportunity to define Canada's strategic interests at home and on the world stage. Canada and Ballistic Missile Defense is the first comprehensive account of Canada's response and indecision regarding US ballistic missile defence initiatives, and the implications of this inaction.

Since the mid-1950s, successive Canadian governments have grappled with the issue of Canada's role in US ballistic missile defence programs. Until Paul Martin's government finally said no, policy-makers responded to US initiatives with fear and uncertainty as they endlessly debated the implications – at home and abroad – of participation. However, whether this is the end of the story remains to be seen.Drawing on previously classified government documents and interviews with senior officials, James Fergusson examines Canada's policy deliberations during five major US initiatives. He reveals that a combination of factors such as weak leadership and a tendency to place uncertain and ill-defined notions of international peace and security before national defence resulted in indecision on what role Canada would play in ballistic missile defence. In effect, policy-makers have failed to transform debates about the issue into an opportunity to define Canada's strategic interests at home and on the world stage. Canada and Ballistic Missile Defense is the first comprehensive account of Canada's response and indecision regarding US ballistic missile defence initiatives, and the implications of this inaction.

In April 2006 a small British peace-keeping force was sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Within weeks they were cut off and besieged by some of the world's toughest fighters: the infamous Taliban, who were determined to send the foreigners home again. Defence Secretary John Reid had hoped that Operation Herrick 4 could be accomplished without a shot being fired; instead, the Army was drawn into the fiercest fighting it had seen for fifty years. Millions of bullets and thousands of lives have been expended since then in an under-publicized but bitter conflict whose end is still not in sight. Some people consider it the fourth Anglo-Afghan War since Victorian times. How on earth did this happen? And what is it like for the troops on the front line of the 'War on Terror'?James Fergusson takes us to the dark heart of the battle zone. Here, in their own words and for the first time, are the young veterans of Herrick 4. Here, unmasked, are the civilian and military officials responsible for planning and executing the operation. Here, too, are the Taliban themselves, to whom Fergusson gained unique and extraordinary access. Controversial, fascinating and occasionally downright terrifying, A Million Bullets analyses the sorry slide into war in Helmand and asks this most troubling question: could Britain perhaps have avoided the violence altogether?